copy  /. 


THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH. 


y 


The 


Veracity  of  the    Hexateuch 


A  Defence  of  the 

Historic  Character  of  the  First 

Six  Books  of  the  Bible 


^ 


Samuel  Colcord  Bartlett,   D.D.,  LL.  D. 

Ex- President  of  Dartmouth  College 


Fleming    H.    Revell    Company- 
Chicago  New  York  Toronto 
Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature 


Copyright  i8qt,  by 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Comjiany 


To 

Aly  jFormer  Pupils 

At 

Westei-n  Resei-ve  College 

Chicago  Theological  Seinitiary 

And  Daritnouth    College 

This  Witness  to  THE  TRUTH 

Is  Affectionately 

Dedicated 


PREFACE 

Conservative    discussions    of   the    Hexateuch 
have  not  of  late  been  much  in  vogue.   We  have  been 
abundantly  notified  that  modern  scholarship  is  on 
the  other  side.      However  this  may  be,  the  recent 
movement   of   Homeric  scholarship  is  significant. 
The  reign  of  Wolf  began  in  1795,  and  for  much  of 
the  intervening  century  the  "scholar"  has  been  con- 
strained to  accept  the  Homerid^  and  a  compilation 
of  rhapsodies  from   nameless  independent  authors. 
But  since  the  labors  of  Schliemann  and  Dorpfeld, 
even  Germany  is  beginning  with  some  unanimity, 
we  are  told,  to  give  us  back  one  Homer,  one  Iliad, 
and  an  actual  Trojan  war.      Perhaps  the  time  has 
come  to  say  something  for  Moses  and  Joshua.      Evi- 
dently a  volume  of  the  right  kind  in  behalf  of  the, 
views  that  were  universally  held  for  two  or  three 
thousand  years  is  still  in  order. 

Such  a  volume  for  general  use  needs  to  be  suffi- 
ciently compact  to  invite  a  reading,  sufficiently  clear 
to  be  readily  followed,  broad  enough  in  its  scope  to 
recognize  the  various  aspects  of  the  case,  and  in  its 
statements  to  rest  on  trustworthy  authorities,  while 
not  overweighed  with  wearisome  and  repellent  de- 
tails. To  meet  all  these  requirements  is  no  easy 
undertaking.  The  literature  of  the  subject  is  almost 
hopelessly  vast,  and  is  constantly  increasing.  ^  The 

conflict  on  some  important  points  still  continues. 


PREFACE 


The  work  of  archaeological  research,  remarkable  as 
it  has  lately  been,  and  pointing  steadily  and  decis- 
ively in  one  direction,  is  yet  progressive  and  in- 
complete. Its  further  results  must  be  patiently 
aw^aited  rather  than  predicted.  But  w^hile  occasional 
new  perplexities  may  be  looked  for,  and  minor 
modifications  of  fact  and  opinion  may  be  expected, 
there  is  little  reason  to  anticipate  any  reversal  of 
the  main  historic  results  already  established  by  con- 
current evidence  from  so  many  different  sources. 

No  one  can  be  more  sensible  of  the  difficulty  of 
meeting  the  requirements  above  indicated  than  the 
present  writer,  and  he  by  no  means  claims  to  have 
accomplished  it.  For  a  long  course  of  years,  how- 
ever, he  has  followed  the  discussion,  examining  all 
available  materials  for  the  solution  of  the  question, 
while  waiting  for  the  light  that  was  to  come  from 
further  discoveries.  But  the  process  of  research  is 
a  stream  that  never  ceases  to  flow  on ;  and  the  call 
for  some  practical  showing  of  its  combined  results 
up  to  the  present  time  seems  to  be  urgent. 

For  the  gravity  of  the  real  issue  is  beginning  to 
be  more  generally  understood.  It  is  not  chiefly  a 
question  of  authorship  and  mode  of  composition, 
nor  of  minor  inexactness  or  "inerrancy,"  which  has 
come  to  the  front,  but  of  the  fundamental  veracity 
of  the  Old  Testament  from  the  beginning  of  it. 
Direct  and  open  denials,  and  charges  of  being  "un- 
historical,"  "fictitious,"  and  "false,"  have  hitherto 
been  more  abundant  in  Germany.  But  they  have 
made  their  way  into  England ;  and  in  this  country 


PREFACE  vii 

we  have  begun  to  hear  the  same  things,  usually, 
though  not  always,  in  more  decorous  language,  yet 
in  unexpected  quarters. 

Meanwhile  the  religious  community  are  enter- 
tained with  assurances  of  the  new  light  and  im- 
pressiveness  thus  brought  to  the  sacred  volume,  and 
that  its  "inspired  authority,"  in  the  words  of  Dr. 
Driver,  is  not  impaired.  But  when  we  are  informed 
by  the  same  writer  that  we  have  but  "traditions 
modified  and  colored  by  the  associations  of  the  age 
in  which  the  author  lived,  "and  that  the  author  used 
his  "freedom  in  placing  speeches  in  the  mouths"  of 
the  several  characters,  such  as  "he  deemed  to  be 
consonant";  when  we  are  told  by  other  writers, 
English  and  American,  that  the  early  chapters  of 
Genesis  are  a  "myth,"  and  that  we  have  "not  the 
history  of  Abraham  and  Jacob,  of  Moses  and 
Joshua,"  but  of  "religious  ideas,"  that  the  account 
of  the  conquest  of  Palestine  is  "essentially  false," 
and  the  like,  what  becomes  of  the  "  inspired  author- 
ity" and  the  religious  lessons  of  such  a  book? 

Many,  no  doubt,  are  induced  to  give  a  general 
assent  to  the  positions  taken  by  this  class  of  writers 
by  the  constant  and  confident  assurance  that  they 
are  approved  and  accepted  facts.  They  have  not 
been  able  to  sift  the  elaborate  and  wearisome  dis- 
cussions for  themselves,  and  they  fail  to  recognize, 
beneath  these  bold  pretensions,  the  unfounded  as- 
sumptions, the  unwarranted  methods  and  inferences, 
and  the  ultimate  incompatibility  of  the  conclusions 
with  confidence  in  the  Scriptures.     The  New  Tes- 


viii  PREFACE 

lament,  also,  is  so  related  to  the  Old,  as  the  basis 
on  which  in  an  important  sense  it  is  built,  that  the 
attack  on  the  truthfulness  of  the  Hexateuch  is  a 
flank  movement  on  the  Gospels  and  the  Epistles. 
In  some  quarters  it  seems  to  have  been  made  a 
substitute  for  a  direct  assault.  Slowly  and  surely 
foiled  and  driven  back  in  the  attempt  to  detrude  the 
date  of  the  Gospels  far  down  in  the  second  century, 
by  such  newty  discovered  obstacles  as  the  Diates- 
seron,  the  Didache,  the  Greek  text  of  Barnabas, 
the  Apology  of  Aristides,  the  "Gospel  of  Peter," 
the  identifying  of  Hippolytus  containing  the  witness 
of  Basilides,  and  the  like,  they  have  transferred  the 
attack  to  a  region  where  collateral  evidence  is  more 
difficult  of  attainment.  But  the  good  providence 
of  God  has  been  doing  much  within  a  few  years 
past  to  cast  light  on  those  far  distant  periods,  until 
the  time  has  come  when  explorers  in  oriental  lands 
are  placing  facts  against  speculations.  The  specu- 
lators do  not  seem  to  be  fully  aware  of  it. 

Meanwhile  this  agitation  tends  to  produce  un- 
easiness and  embarrassment  in  the  minds  of  many 
Christians,  and  unsettlement  in  the  views  of  many 
who  are  not  Christians.  The  object  of  the  present 
volume  is  to  relieve  these  difficulties,  presenting 
some  of  the  reasons  for  holding  fast  the  belief  of 
the  ages  in  the  historic  truthfulness  of  the  Hex- 
ateuch. The  aim  has  been  to  do  it  as  compactly 
as  is  consistent  with  a  clear  and  satisfactory  pres- 
entation. With  this  view,  considerable  matter  by 
way  of  illustration  and  confirmation  has  been  thrown 


PREFACE  ix 

into  notes  in  the  appendix,  and  some  accumulated 
material  withheld. 

Direct  and  positive  evidence  of  fact  best  disposes 
of  speculative  objections.  It  is  not  necessary,  nor 
vv^ould  it  be  possible  w^ithin  reasonable  compass,  to 
follow  the  critical  analysis  through  all  its  winding 
course,  inasmuch  as  it  only  indirectly  and  inferen- 
tially  concerns  the  question  of  veracity,  would 
require  many  hundred  pages,  and  probably  would 
find  few  readers.  For  the  present  purpose,  if  not 
for  all  purposes,  it  is  better  dealt  with  by  an  ex- 
amination of  its  methods  and  principles,  together 
with  adequate  illustrations,  illustrative  and  repre- 
sentative, and  some  comparison  with  other  literary 
procedures  and  experiences,  showing  the  failure  to 
stand  the  experimental  test.  So  far  as  it  comes 
under  consideration,  while  the  author  has  had  access 
to  most  of  the  several  forms  of  division  of  the  text, 
he  has  referred  chiefly  to  the  comparatively  con- 
servative representation  in  Kautzsch's"Die  Heilige 
Schrift  des  Alten  Testament"  (1894).  He  is  not 
confident  that  he  has  escaped  the  charge  of  tedious- 
ness  in  the  references  and  citations  he  has  made. 
Those  who  may  wish  to  follow  out  this  line  of  the 
subject  in  minute  and  protracted  detail  are  referred 
to  the  recent  volumes  of  Dr.  W.  H.  Green,  which 
it  has  hitherto  apparently  been  found  easier  to  ignore 
than  to  answer. 

The  questions  of  fact  passing  under  review  in 
this  discussion  are  of  very  wide  range,  and  involve 
the  investigations  and  testimony  of  a  host  of  writers 


X  PREFACE 

and  explorers.  On  all  important  points  the  refer- 
ences are  given,  which  those  familiar  with  the  sub- 
ject will  recognize  as  comprising  the  highest 
authorities  in  their  several  departments.  They  are 
cited,  it  will  be  observed,  for  their  testimony  rather 
than  for  their  opinions. 

One  minor  point  occasions  a  slight  embarrassment. 
As  to  the  orthography  of  many  oriental  names  con- 
fusion now  reigns.  Each  modern  writer  is  a  law 
unto  himself.  In  recent  volumes  of  some  prom- 
inence we  find,  for  example,  six  ways  of  spelling 
Thothmes,  four  each  of  Rameses,  Usertasen,  Me- 
nephtah,  Assurbanipal.  Sennacherib  is  changed  to 
Sinacherib ;  the  old  English  word  Jehovah  is  re- 
placed by  Jahve,  Jahveh,  Yahveh,  Yahweh,  and 
Yahwe ;  and  what  all  English  readers  well  know 
as  the  Koran  has  been  transformed  into  the  English 
anomaly  and  incompatibility  of  Qur'an.  One  can 
but  take  his  choice,  with  the  prospect  of  incon- 
sistency when  he  quotes  directly.  But  it  would 
seem  to  be  a  sound  principle  of  English  literature 
that  when  a  foreign  name  has  acquired  an  estab- 
lished form  and  held  it  since  the  time  of  King  James' 
Version,  an  English  writer  is  not  called  to  change 
it.  No  perceptible  gain  would  accrue  to  English 
literature  or  Hebrew  scholarship  by  writing  Mosheh 
for  Moses,  or  Yehoshua  for  Joshua. 

Attention  is  called  in  conclusion  to  the  fact  that 
the  question  here  discussed  is  now  open  to  the  judg- 
ment, not  alone  of  Hebrew  scholars,  but  of  intel- 
ligent men  generally.  It  has  been  by  modern  critics 


PREFACE  xi 

themselves  taken  off  from  merely  linguistic,  and 
placed  on  historic,  grounds.  If  other  distinct  ad- 
missions were  wanting,  as  they  are  not,  the  con- 
fession is  found  in  the  revolution  which  within  a 
few  years  has  transferred  the  so-called  document 
P,  that  contains  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  from 
being  the  oldest  to  be  the  youngest  of  the  main 
constituents. 

We  are  now  in  the  midst  and  at  the  height  of  a 
great  movement  against  the  trustworthiness  of  the 
ancient  Scriptures.  But  already  there  are  signs  of 
weakening  in  some  portions  of  the  hostile  camp, 
and  in  others  the  very  excess  and  extravagance  is  a 
sign  of  growing  weakness.  Many  of  us  have  read 
of,  and  some  of  us  have  seen,  collapses  of  popular 
and  even  universally  accepted  movements  and 
theories,  both  in  literature  and  science.  All  students 
of  history  know  how  manifold  and  unceasing  have 
been  the  efforts  to  arrest  the  power  and  progress  of 
God's  Word ;  and  it  is  easy  to  see  that  they  will 
not  end  so  long  as  men  assume  as  a  postulate  the 
denial  of  the  supernatural,  or  stumble  at  the  "offense 
of  the  cross."  It  is  unnecessary  to  arrange  terms 
of  surrender. 

Hanover y  N,  H.^  June,  1897. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

I.   The  Case  Stated         -         -         -  i 

II.   The  Book  OF  Joshua         -         -         -  13 

III.  From  the  Exodus  to  the  Conquest  48 

IV.  The  Residence  in  Egypt         -         -  84 
V.   The  Patriarchal  History         -  109 

VI.   The  Table  of  the  Nations     -        -  137 

VII.   The  Deluge           -          ...  131 

VIII.  Antediluvian  Life          -         -         -  178 

IX.  Antediluvian  Occupations          -  190 

X.   The  Primitive  Condition         -        -  199 

XI.   The  Temptation  and  the  Fall      -  214 

XII.   The  Creation  Narrative           -  227 

XIII.  The  Sabbath         -         .         -           .  261 

XIV.  The  Historic  Basis         -            -        -  268 
XV.   The  Literary  Problem       -         -  283 

XVI.   The  Analysis           -           ...  295 
XVII.   Unfounded  Assumptions       -         -  311 
XVIII.   Unsustained  Denials         -         -  322 
XIX.   Unsustained  Denials:  The  Priest- 
hood           337 

XX.   The  Codes 347 

Appendix            -----  339 

List  of  Authors           -         -         -  393 

Index 399 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  CASE  STATED 

The  one  important  question  concerning  the  Hex- 
ateuch,  as  the  five  books  of  Moses  and  the  book  of 
Joshua  are  now  called,  is  this  :  Is  it  true  history  ? 
All  others  are  subordinate  and  only  constructivel}^ 
important.  It  is  comparatively  unimportant  whether 
it  was  the  work  of  various  writers,  if  it  be  true ;  not 
a  vital  question  when  it  was  written,  or  when  it  re- 
ceived its  present  form,  if  it  be  valid  history.  No 
doubt,  could  it  be  shown  to  have  been  written  many 
centuries  after  the  events,  and  without  authentic 
sources,  it  loses  historic  weight.  But  it  must  be 
remembered  that  its  composite  character,  if  it  were 
proved,  would  not  carry  a  determination  of  its  date. 
That  must  be  shown  by  distinct  evidence.  While 
a  very  late  date  of  composition  would  impair  its 
value  as  a  narrative,  on  the  other  hand  an  origin 
nearl}^  or  quite  contemporaneous  with  the  events, 
would,  in  the  absence  of  conflicting  accounts  and 
with  the  corroboration  by  such  tests  as  could  be 
applied,  render  it  thoroughly  credible. 

Two  theories  of  its  origin  and  character  are  now 
before  the  public.  They  are  frequently  distinguished 
as  the  Traditional  and  the  Critical.  Cave  terms 
them  the  Journal  and  the  Evolution  theories ;  Rob- 
ertson, the  Biblical  and  the  Modern.  The  latter 
uses  his  terms  advisedly,  because  the  account  given 

1 


t  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

in  the  Hexateuch,  and  elsewhere  assumed  in  the 
Scriptures,  as  to  the  law-giving  and  many  earlier 
transactions,  is  denied  by  the  Modern  theory,  though 
in  different  degrees  by  different  writers. 

The  Traditional,  Biblical  or  Journal  view  holds, 
as  its  fundamental  point,  that  the  narrative  is  true 
history,  although  written  in  popular  style  and 
method,  and  that  these  books  were  substantially^ 
contemporary  with  Moses  and  Joshua  respectively. 
As  stated  in  careful  form  by  Ellicott,  it  would  recog- 
nize Exodus,  Leviticus  and  Numbers  as  put  in 
shape  by  Moses  or  under  his  direction,  Deuteron- 
omy as  manifestly  completed  by  a  survivor,  and 
Genesis  as  compiled  by  Moses.  Joshua  is  regarded 
as  compiled  by  some  contemporary  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Joshua.'  It  is  suggested  both  by  Bishop 
Ellicott  and  Professor  Leathes  (and  others)  as  prob- 
able that  in  the  composition  of  Genesis  the  law- 
giver made  use  of  primeval  documents  and  contem- 
poraneous family  records  handed  down  in  the  line 
of  Abraham  and  his  ancestry.  The  existence  and 
gradual  growth  of  such  records  is  thought  by 
Leathes  to  be  sustained  by  such  passages  as  Gen. 
v.  i;  Ex.  xvii,  14;  xxiv.  7;  xxxiv.  27;  Num.  xxi. 
14;  xxxiii.  2;  Deut.  xxxi.  24;  Josh.  x.  13;  xxiv. 
26;  2  Sam.  i.  18.^  The  chief  feature  of  this  view 
is  that  it  regards  the  narratives  as  resting  on  good 
and  practically  contemporaneous  authority.  But 
they  all  show  marks  of  having  passed  through  the 
hands  of  editors  or  revisers. 

1  Ellicott,  Christus  Comprobator,  pp.  46-50. 

2  Leathes,  The  Law  in  the  Prophets,  pp.  v.,vi. 


THE  CASE  STATED  S 

The  Other  view,  which  we  will  call  the  Modern 
theory,  has  three  prominent  features:  i,  an  anal- 
ysis of  the  Hexateuch  into  the  writings  of  separate 
and  discernible  hands,  numbering  from  eight  or 
ten  to  eighteen  or  twenty ;  2,  an  assignment  of  late 
dates  for  all  these  wTiters,  none  of  them  living  with- 
in less  than  four  or  five,  some  of  them  not  less  than 
ten  centuries,  of  the  events ;  3,  a  denial  more  or  less 
distinct  and  extensive  of  the  truth  of  much  of  the 
early  narrative,  as  being  tradition  "modified  or 
colored"  by  the  judgment  of  the  writer,  or  "myth- 
ical" and  "unhistorical,"  or  as  one  writer  describes 
the  narrative  of  the  conquest,  "essentially  false." 

The  first  of  these  points  of  itself  would  be  of  no 
special  importance.  The  second  is  significant  as 
leading  to  the  third.  The  third  is  vital.  It  is  with 
the  question  of  the  historic  character  of  the  Hexa- 
teuch that  the  present  treatise  has  to  do.  If  that  be 
established,  the  other  points  may  be  disposed  of 
more  briefly,  and  the  reader  referred  to  other  and 
more  detailed  discussions  of  them. 

Meanwhile  it  may  be  mentioned  as  a  significant 
fact  what  a  reaction  has  begun  in  Germany  against 
the  dissection  of  Homer  and  the  Iliad,  and  the  ex- 
tinction of  Homer.  The  anti-Homeric  crusade  is 
older  and  bolder  than  the  anti-Mosaic.  For  many 
decades  scarcely  a  scholar  dared  to  question  it. 
But  it  has  had  its  day.  The  keen  specialist  Knoetel 
has  boldly  declared  that  the  "theory  which  cuts  the 
Homeric  poems  into  a  larger  or  smaller  number  of 
rhapsodies  is  unfounded,  and  such  great  men  and 


4  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

scholars  as  Wolf,  Lachmann,  Dissen,  Bernhardy 
and  all  their  followers  who  undertook  the  work  of 
literary  dissection  were  entirely  in  error.  "^  And 
his  assertion  is  said  to  be  substantially  and  generally 
accepted.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  proc- 
ess of  dissecting  the  Scriptures  and  excluding 
Moses  may  or  may  not  meet  a  similar  fate.  Already 
the  excesses  of  the  movement  begin  to  appear  like 
a  7'ednctio  ad  ahsnrdtim  of  its  methods. 

The  Pentateuch  and  the  book  of  Joshua  are  novv^ 
commonly  treated  together  as  the  Hexateuch,  on 
the  ground  of  alleged  identity  of  authorship.  His- 
torically they  are  intimately  related.  The  second  is 
the  sequel  of  the  first. 

When  grave  historic  treatises  present  themselves 
under  such  remarkable  conditions  as  do  these  writ- 
ings, by  all  the  laws  of  historic  reasoning  it  is  in- 
cumbent, not  on  those  who  accept,  but  on  those 
who  reject,  them,  to  show  cause.  It  is  not  proposed 
to  dispense  with  the  prestige  and  power  of  this 
position,  but  to  indicate  it  later,  in  treating  directl}^ 
of  the  Pentateuch.  Meanwhile  we  will  take  our 
stand  on  the  latest  portion  of  this  connected  narra- 
tive, namely,  the  book  of  Joshua,  and  trace  the 
course  of  the  history  upward  to  the  beginning  of 
the  stream. 

This  method  undoubtedly  has  its  disadvantages. 
The  transactions  in  the  book  of  Joshua  are  not  only 
remote  from  direct  contact  with  Egypt  and  its  mon- 

3  Knoetel,  Homeros,  der  Blinde  von  Chios,  und  Seine  Werke,  2  vol.,  Leip- 
zig,i894-5.  In  Vol  ii.,  pp.  x.,  xi.,  he  characterizes  the  process,  somewhat  too 
severely,  as  "carping,  chipping  and  trimming." 


THE  CASE  STATED  5 

uments,  but  they  antedate  the  evidence  which  of 
late  years  has  been  coming  abundantly  from  Baby- 
lonian and  Assyrian  discoveries.  But  though  these 
last-mentioned  testimonies  fall  below^  the  period 
now  in  question,  they  are  not  to  be  overlooked,  as 
forming  an  approach  to  that  period,  and  as  bearing 
on  the  general  credibility  of  the  Old  Testament  his- 
tory. In  them  we  find  not  only  many  striking  de- 
tails illustrative  of  the  events  in  the  times  of  the 
kings  of  Israel  and  Judah,  but  what  is  even  more 
weighty,  the  explanation  of  that  course  of  events, 
not  otherwise  easily  intelligible.  Indeed  the  ex- 
planation thus  gained  extends  back  even  to  the  date 
of  the  Exodus,  showing  the  condition  and  relations 
of  the  great  nations  at  that  time,  which  exposed 
Palestine  to  invasion  and  suffered  its  conquest  to 
take  place  without  hindrance  from  outside.  It  has 
been  well  said  that  "the  history  of  Israel,  unspeak- 
ably interesting  and  important  as  it  was  in  itself, 
may  now  be  seen  in  its  true  external  setting."  It 
is  a  fact  of  the  gravest  moment  that  the  narrative  is 
not  only  confirmed  in  so  many  of  its  test  details, 
but  that  it  stands  so  thoroughly  clasped  and  sup- 
ported by  all  its  environments.  Inasmuch  as  a  full 
justification  of  the  statement  would  involve  too  long 
a  digression  from  the  more  direct  line  of  inquiry, 
the  reader  is  referred  to  an  admirable  summary  of 
the  situation  by  Professor  J.  F.  McCurdy.* 

Proceeding  to  some  of  the  facts  in  detail  men- 
tioned in  the  sacred  narrative  which  are  contained 

4  See  Appendix,  note  I, 


6  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

also  in  the  Assyrian  records,  there  are  found  in  the 
latter  records  six  kings  of  Israel,  Omri,  Ahab, 
Jehu,  Menahem,  Pekah  and  Hoshea,  and  four  kings 
of  Judah,  Azariah,  Ahaz,  Hezekiah  and  Manasseh ; 
also  Ben-hadad  and  Hazael  of  Damascus,  and 
Hiram  of  Tyre.  Tiglath-pileser's  movement  on 
Samaria  and  Syria,  Shalmanezer's  invasion  of  Pal- 
estine, and  Sennacherib's  war  w^ith  Hezekiah  have 
been  read  from  the  Assyrian  records.  Thus  Sen- 
nacherib relates  how  he  had  captured  the  strong 
cities  of  the  king  of  Judah  (2  Chron.  xxxii.  i),  and 
shut  up  the  king  in  Jerusalem,  where  he  had  given 
command  to  strengthen  the  bulwarks,  as  the  Chron- 
icler also  states  (ver.  5) ;  and  he  specifies  the  amount 
of  tribute  exacted,  namely,  thirty  talents  of  gold, 
precisely  the  Scripture  number  (2  Kings  xviii.  14), 
although  the  Assyrian  monarch  claims  five  hundred 
talents  of  silver  more  than  are  mentioned  in  the 
sacred  narrative.  Sennacherib's  siege  of  Lachish 
(2  Chron.  xxxii.  9),  whither  Hezekiah  sent  his  sub- 
mission (2  Kings  xviii.  14),  is  delineated  on  thirteen 
slabs  of  bas-relief  in  the  palace  at  Koyunjik,  la- 
beled with  the  name  of  the  monarch  and  the  town.° 
One  of  the  latest  discoveries  in  regard  to  him  (by 
Father  Scheil's  excavations)^  is  a  mention  of  his 
murder  by  his  son,  as  stated  in  the  Scripture,  but 
not  previously  known  from  other  sources.  The  lost 
and  (by  some)  doubted  Belshazzar  has  been  found  in 
three  contract  tablets  dated  in  the  fifth,  eleventh  and 

5  Layard's  Babylon  and  Nineveh,  p.  154.     Records  of  the  Past,  i.,  p.  36. 

6  Biblical  Science,  New  York  Independent,  June  25,  1896. 


THE  CASE  STATED  7 

twelfth  years  of  king  Nabonidus,  and  describing  him 
as  "the  king's  son.'"  The  Moabite  stone,  found  in 
1868,  carries  us  back  to  about  900  B.  C,  and  pre- 
sents to  us  Mesha  king  of  Moab,  otherwise  un- 
known except  in  the  Scriptures  (2  Kings  iii.  4), 
Omri  king  of  Judah  and  his  son  (Ahab),  the  heavy 
tribute  exacted  from  the  Moabite  king,  and  at  last 
his  rebellion — all  as  stated  briefly  in  the  book  of 
Kings.  It  also  mentions  Jehovah  as  Israel's  God, 
Chemosh  as  the  Moabite  deity,  and  Moab  as  the 
"land  of  Chemosh,"  just  as  in  Num.  xxi.  29  and 
Jer.  xlviii.  46  Moab  is  called  the  "people  of  Che- 
mosh." The  script  is  that  of  the  ancient  Hebrew ;  its 
vocabulary,  with  slight  exceptions,  is  that  of  the 
Hebrew,  as  are  its  syntax  and  form  of  sentence  also. 
And  what  is  still  more  important  is  its  evidence  of 
the  power  and  civilization  of  Moab  at  that  time, 
and  those  of  Israel,  its  neighbor  and  superior.  Says 
Dr.  Driver,  "The  length  and  finished  literary  form 
of  the  inscription  show  that  the  Moabites  in  the 
tenth  century  B.  C.  were  not  a  nation  that  had  re- 
cently emerged  from  barbarism  ;  and  Mesha  reveals 
himself  in  it  as  a  monarch  capable  of  organizing 
and  consolidating  his  dominions  by  means  similar 
to  those  adopted  by  contemporary  sovereigns  in  the 
kingdoms  of  Israel  and  Judah.  "^  Another  interest- 
ing and  important  inscription,  from  Jerusalem  itself, 
is  the  Siloam  inscription  discovered  so  recently  as 

7  Rscords  of  the  Past,  New  Series,  Vol.  iii.,  p.  124. 

8  Driver,  Notes  on  the  Hebrew  Text  of  Samuel,  p  xciv.  The  inscription 
has  been  given  to  the  public  abundantly,  the  best  form  being  the  fac-simile 
and  translation  Ijy  Smend  and  Socin,  Freiburg,  1886. 


8  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

1880.  It  is  cut  in  the  rock  sixteen  feet  from  the 
Siloam  entrance  of  a  rock-cut  channel  which  ex- 
tends to  the  Fountain  of  the  Virgin,  a  distance  of 
1, 708  feet.  Though  the  passage  winds  more  or  less, 
following  the  softer  seams  of  the  rock,  and  was, 
according  to  the  inscription  (and  appearances  also), 
excavated  from  both  ends  inward,  it  was  so  well 
directed  that  when  three  cubits  apart  the  two  bands 
of  workmen  heard  each  other's  picks  and  came  to- 
gether. It  is  regarded  for  good  reasons  as  dating 
from  about  the  time  of  Hezekiah,  and  it  serves  two 
historic  purposes :  It  is  a  general  corroboration  of 
the  statement  that  such  water  courses  (2  Chron. 
xxxii.  30)  or  conduits  (2  Kings  xx.  20)  were  actu- 
ally made  at  Jerusalem  during  those  times ;  and, 
still  more  importantly,  it  bears  witness  to  the  civili- 
zation and  progress  of  the  nation,  since  (i)  there 
were  workmen  competent  to  do  such  a  piece  of 
engineering,  and  (2)  it  presents  an  inscription  of 
six  lines,  in  Hebrew  like  that  of  the  Old  Testament, 
containing  but  one  word  ("excess".^)  not  found  in 
the  lexicons,  and  in  well-cut  Hebrew  letters  of  the 
archaic  form.^  Somewhat  earlier  than  these  is  the 
famous  inscription  at  Thebes  in  Egypt,  of  Shishak, 
the  Sheshenk  of  the  monuments,  enumerating  the 
places  conquered  by  him  or  tributary  to  him,  among 
which  is  the  bearded  figure  and  the  name  ''Judah" 
— whether  rendered  king  or  kingdom — in  corre- 
spondence to  the  narrative  of  i  Kings  xiv.  25,  26, 

9  To  be  found  in  the  Records  of  the  Past,  New  Series,  Vol.  i,  p.  174,  and 
elsewhere.  A  fac-simile  and  traqslation  was  published  by  thf  Palestine 
jgxploration  fund. 


THE  CASE  STATED  9 

that  he  carried  off  the  chief  treasures  of  the  city  and 
the  temple ;  and  in  his  list  of  captured  places  there 
are  certainly  identified,  among  others,  the  well- 
known  Taanach,  Mahanaim,  Beth-horon,  Beth- 
tappuah,  Ajalon  and  Shoco/"  The  last  two  are 
mentioned  in  2  Chron.  xi.  5-10  among  "fenced 
cities"  which  Rehoboam  built  ''for  defence-';  thus 
distinctly  confirming  the  statement  of  2  Chron.  xii. 
2-4,  that  "Shishak  took  the  fenced  cities  which 
pertained  to  Judah,  and  came  to  Jerusalem" — the 
statement  of  a  book  (Chronicles)  greatly  depreci- 
ated by  some  critics.  In  the  history  of  Joshua  (2 
Kings  xxiii.  29,  30;  2  Chron.  xxxvi.  20-24)  we 
get  a  passing  notice  of  Pharaoh-nechoh  of  Egypt  on 
his  march  to  Carchemish  upon  the  Euphrates,  vic- 
torious over  Josiah,  but  to  be  defeated  by  the  king 
of  Babylon,  and  also  of  the  effects  of  that  defeat  on 
the  history  of  Palestine,  as  we  learn  them  from 
other  sources." 

Other  details  of  definite  corroboration  could  be 
given,  but  these  must  suffice  for  the  present.  Mean- 
while it  is  important  to  call  special  attention  to  the 
knowledge  that  has  recently  come  from  the  investi- 
gation of  inscriptions  in  Arabia  by  Glaser,  and 
elucidated  by  Hommel,  showing  an  advanced  stage 
of  organization,  prosperit}^,  if  not  culture,  in  thcit 
country  as  early,  it  is  supposed,  as  the  exodus.  ^^ 

10  The  latest  and  probably  best  list  is  that  of  Maspero,  given  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Victoria  Institute,  1894,  pp.  93-133.  He  identifies  sixteen 
places  mentioned  in  Joshua. 

11  Berosus,  in  Josephus  cont,  Ap.  i,  19,  Josephus  Antiq.,  ch.  x.,  and  Jer. 
xlvi.  2-16. 

12  An  excellent  popular  account  of  these  results  was  given  by  Prof.  Fil2 
Hommel  in  the  S.    S.  Times,  October  12  and  November  2,  1895. 


10  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Thus  from  these  various  sources  we  not  only  find 
that  in  the  early  days  Israel  was  on  all  sides  sur- 
rounded with  advanced  civilization,  but  from  As- 
syria, Egypt,  Moab,  and  Jerusalem  come  evidences 
extending  into  the  tenth  century  B.  C,  touching  its 
history  at  various  points,  and  abundantly  confirma- 
tory of  the  sacred  records.  There  are  minor  diffi- 
culties, such  as  are  common  in  historic  matters  and 
are  easily  paralleled,  and  especially  some  chrono- 
logical difficulties,  such  as  are  seldom  absent  from 
history,  whether  ancient,  medieval  or  modern.  But 
the  substantial  facts  remain  well  verified.  And  with 
the  force  of  this  accumulated  preliminary  testimony 
we  may  approach  the  times  in  some  of  which  the 
external  evidences,  though  not  wanting,  are  less 
numerous.  We  are  thus  far  dealing  with  manifestly 
true  histories  which  we  have  tested  at  various  points. 

The  criteria  thus  indicated  carry  us  back  three- 
fourths  of  the  interval  from  the  Christian  Era  to  the 
death  of  Joshua,  or  about  as  near  to  it  as  from  the 
present  time  (1897)  to  the  death  of  John  Carver, 
the  first  governor  of  Plymouth  Colony.  ^^  The 
weighty  bearing  of  this  consideration  is  not  to  be 
overlooked. 

For,  in  truth,  the  earlier  and  the  later  history,  as 
will  more  fully  appear  hereafter,  are  closely  inter- 
locked throughout.  At  every  stage  the  later  history 
and  literature  are  permeated  by  the  facts  of  the 
earlier,  and  cannot  be  explained  without  them ;  re- 
lated somewhat  as  is  American  history  and  litera- 
ls See  note  ii,  Appendix. 


THE  CASE  STATED  11 

ture  before  and  since  the  Revolution,  or  as  the 
known  origin  of  Plymouth  Colony  is  presupposed 
and  emphasized  in  all  its  subsequent  transactions, 
and  never  more  than  in  the  present  day. 

After  all  attempts  to  discredit  the  statements  of 
the  Pentateuch  and  Joshua,  it  has  been  found  im- 
possible to  sever  the  connection  of  the  continuous 
course  of  events.  Even  Wellhausen  says:  "It  is 
certain  that  Moses  was  the  founder  of  the  Torah ;" 
"he  was  the  founder  of  the  nation  out  of  which  the 
Torah  and  the  prophecy  came  as  later  growths ;  he 
laid  the  basis  of  Israel's  subsequent  peculiar  indi- 
viduality, not  by  any  one  formal  act,  but  in  virtue 
of  his  having  throughout  the  whole  of  his  long  life 
been  the  people's  leader,  judge  and  center  of 
union. '"^  When  these  words  are  carefully  weighed, 
it  will  be  seen  that  they  pretty  much  surrender  the 
case  as  a  historical  issue.  Kuenen  also,  though  with 
cautionary  qualifications,  declares  that  "w^e  may  not 
doubt  that  the  exodus  is  an  historical  fact,"  and 
proceeds  unconsciously  to  show  this  interlocking  of 
events  by  arguing  that  the  events  ascribed  to  Moses 
and  Joshua  "were,  in  reality,  distributed  over  a  very 
long  period" — "centuries."'^  Dr.  Driver,  as  might 
be  expected,  attributes  far  more  to  Moses,  and 
dwells  much  more  definitely  on  the  gradual,  steady 
outgrowth  of  all  the  civil  ordinances,  ceremonial 
observances,  and  the  relations  and  functions  of  the 
priesthood  through  the  entire  later  history,  from  the 
same  original  agency,  declaring  in  the  outset  that 

14  History  of  Israel,  p.  438.  15  Religion  of  Israel,  I.,  p.  117. 


12  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

"it  cannot  be  doubted  that  Moses  was  the  uUimate 
founder  of  both  the  religious  and  national  life  of 
Israel. '"« 

Such  definite  tests  as  have  now  been  cited  of  the 
authentic  character  of  the  narrative  through  three- 
fourths  of  the  interval  from  Jesus  to  Joshua,  and  the 
inseparable  blending  of  the  whole  fabric  of  the 
earlier  and  the  later  history,  form  not  only  a  legiti- 
mate preparation  for  the  discussion  of  that  earlier 
narrative,  but  a  grave  argument  for  its  historic 
validity.  From  this  standpoint  we  may  proceed  to 
the  book  of  Joshua.  Meanwhile,  however,  it  is  not 
to  be  overlooked  that  the  best  evidence  of  the  truth 
of  the  early  history  of  Israel,  and  one  not  to  be  set 
aside  except  on  the  best  counter  evidence,  is  the 
fact  of  its  being  so  embedded  in  the  literature  and 
incorporated  in  the  life  of  the  nation.  At  whatever 
point  along  the  course  of  this  history  we  can  apply 
a  test,  the  history  stands  the  test. 

i6  Introduction,  pp.  144-5. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA 

In  showing  the  historic  character  of  the  Hexa- 
teuch  it  is  proposed  to  make  the  book  of  Joshua  the 
starting  point,  and  proceed  thence  upward.  For 
the  present  purpose  it  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into 
any  special  consideration  of  the  critical  analysis  of 
the  book — which,  though  theoretically  simple,  is 
actually  quite  complicated.*  The  question  before 
us,  whoever  wrote  it,  is  whether  it  bears  the  marks 
of  truth.  It  contains  a  variety  of  materials,  such 
as  divine  utterances,  human  addresses,  land  assign- 
ments and  boundaries,  narratives  of  conquests,  and 
other  matters.  But  it  has  a  distinct  unity  as  a  nar- 
rative of  the  establishment  of  the  Israelites  in  the 
promised  land  ;  and  it  falls  into  two  main  divisions ; 
first, the  history  of  the  conquest  (Chapters  I.-XII. ), 
and  second,  the  allotment  of  the  country  (Chapters 
XIII. -XXIV. ),  with  many  subordinate  and  attend- 
ant incidents.  It  is  proposed  to  call  attention  to 
such  corroborative  circumstances  as  can  be  adduced 
in  connection  with  a  series  of  events  so  long  ante- 
cedent to  any  other  continuous  written  history.  It  is 
not  proposed  to  enter  on  any  discussion  of  the  mi- 
raculous elements,  nor  to  vouch  for  the  correct  trans- 
mission of  all  the  numbers  contained  in  the  narrative 

I  See  note  iii,  Appendix. 

13 


14  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

— numbers  being  at  all  times  most  difficult  of  cor- 
rect preservation. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  the  effort 
positively  to  prove  the  statements  of  a  reputable 
and  competent  witness  is  a  gratuitous  proceeding ; 
his  testimony  stands  good  and  is  accepted  unless 
valid  reason  can  be  shown  for  doubting  it.  Fuller 
discussion  of  this  point  is  reserved  for  later  con- 
sideration, in  connection  with  the  so-called  books 
of  Moses.  Now  there  is  no  claim  of  7sx\y  facts  other- 
wise known  to  be  in  conflict  with  this  narrative. 
But  it  is  held  by  the  analysts  that  the  writers  to 
whom  they  ascribe  the  composition  are  by  a  kind  of 
reasoning  shown  to  be  of  much  later  date.  Some 
omissions  and  displacements  are  also  claimed  by 
them,  and  some  alleged  discrepancies  of  no  formid- 
able character.  The  strongest  case  is  made  by  Dr. 
Driver  when  he  says,  "  In  point  of  fact,  as  some  other 
passages  show,  the  conquest  was  by  no  means  ef- 
fected with  the  rapidity  and  completeness  which 
some  of  the  passages  quoted  would  imply.  "^  But 
virtually  he  answers  himself, inasmuch  as  the  "other 
passages"  repeatedly  affirm  that  the  work  was  not 
absolutely  complete,  and  he  himself  states^  that  ac- 
cording to  the  writer  "the  war  of  conquest  occupied 
about  seven  years."  In  other  words,  the  summary 
statements  are  explained  in  detail.  We  proceed 
to  what  should  be  regarded  as  the  superfluous  proc- 
ess of  indicating  the  trustworthiness  of  the  book. 

I.   The  baselessness  and  unreasonableness  of  the 

a  Introduction,  p.  97.  3  lb.,  p.  96. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  iS 

theory  that  its  events  were  not  put  in  writing  till 
from  three  to  eight  centuries  after  the  death  of 
Joshua.  Such  is  the  modern  theory ;  although  Dr. 
Driver,  for  example,  drops  a  single  brief  and  vague 
hint  of  "the  compiler  of  JE  utilizing  older  mate- 
rials." But  let  us  look  at  some  known  facts.  The 
Israelites  had  come  from  a  long  residence  among  a 
people  where  writing  had  come  down  from  the  re- 
motest antiquity,  and  as  Erman  well  says,  the 
"mania  for  writing  (for  we  can  designate  it  by  no 
other  term)  is  not  a  characteristic  of  the  later  period 
only,"  but  prevailed  as  much  under  the  Middle  and 
Old  Empire  as  under  the  New  Empire.  "Nothing 
was  done  under  the  Egyptian  government  without 
documents,  even  in  the  simplest  matters  of  busi- 
ness."* Not  only  did  the  victorious  monarch  in- 
scribe on  the  walls  of  his  temples  the  detailed  ac- 
count of  his  spoils  and  tributes,  but  there  was  a  host 
of  scribes  in  each  department  of  public  life.  There 
were  inventories  of  property,  orders  on  the  treas- 
ury, receipts  from  workmen,  deeds  and  copies  of 
deeds.  The  landed  proprietors  had  written  reports, 
made  through  their  stewards,  of  the  respective 
numbers  of  their  oxen,  sheep,  cows,  asses,  goats, 
geese,  and  other  fowl,  and  even  the  number  of 
eggs  was  ascertained  and  reported.^  The  Israelites 
under  Joshua  also  entered  a  country  where  it  is  now 
proved  that  the  art  of  writing,  and  with  a  very  com- 
plicated alphabet,  had  existed  before  their  entrance. 

4  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt,  p.  112-3. 

5  Wilkinson's  The  Ancient  Egyptians,  II.,  445-9. 


16  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

The  Tell  Amarna  letters  to  Amenophis  IV.  of 
Egypt,  written  in  the  wedge-shaped  characters  of 
Babylonia,  come  from  Beirut,  Sidon,  Tyre,  and  the 
neighboring  cities ;  also  from  Accho,  Hazor,  Joppa, 
Ascalon,  Makkedah,  Lachish,  Jerusalem,  and  other 
cities  not  so  definitely  known. 

Indeed,  there  is  in  the  earlier  name  of  Debir, 
which  "before  was  Kirjath-sepher"  (Josh.  xv.  15; 
Judg.  i.,ii.),an  apparent  intimation  of  the  art  of  writ- 
ing in  Palestine  prior  to  the  entrance  of  Joshua. 
"Book-town"  is  the  literal  meaning  of  the  name  as 
given  by  the  lexicographers  Gesenius  and  Fuerst ; 
"city  of  scribes,"  as  rendered  by  the  Septuagint; 
"archive-town"  in  the  Targum.  The  Vatican  copy 
of  the  Septuagint  reads  "sophar"  instead  of 
"sepher,"  conforming  to  the  rendering  "  scribe- 
town."  The  name  is  found  by  W.  M.  Mueller 
also  in  an  Egyptian  papyrus.^ 

Now,  to  suppose  that  the  great  minister  and  suc- 
cessor of  Moses,  a  man  born  and  trained  to  organize 
and  command,  coming  from  a  land  where  writing 
was  a  "mania"  to  another  land  where  it  pervaded 
the  whole  region,  going  through  a  long  series  of 
eventful  transactions,  having  solemn  communica- 
tions to  make  to  a  fickle  nation,  and  boundary  lines 
carefully  and  permanently  to  assign  and  define  for 
watchful  if  not  jealous  tribes — to  suppose  that  such 
a  man  under  such  circumstances  and  influences  re- 
mained there  twenty-five  years,  till  his  death,  and 
never  made  the  slightest  provision  to  put  anything 

6  Cited  by  Prof.  Moore,  Comm.  on  Judges,  p.  27. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  17 

on  record,  is  hardly  to  be  called  incredulity ;  it  is 
rather  phenomenal  credulity.  Nothing,  therefore, 
could  be  more  natural  than  for  Joshua  to  speak  of 
"all  that  is  written"  in  the  book  of  the  law  (i.  8), 
to  write  upon  the  stones  at  Shechem  (viii.  32),  as 
was  so  abundantly  done  in  Egypt,  a  copy  of  the 
law,  more  or  less,  and  in  the  last  and  still  more 
solemn  covenant  with  the  people  before  his  death 
to  write  the  "statute  and  ordinance"  "in  the  book 
of  the  law  of  God";  and  it  is  quite  unnecessary  for 
the  analysts  to  assign  the  first  two  passages  to  a 
supposed  writer  some  six  hundred  years  later,  and 
to  single  out  the  one  sentence  in  the  last  instance 
for  the  still  later  and  more  vague  personage,  the 
redactor,  as  they  have  done. 

2.  Marks  of  proximity  of  date  to  the  events,  and 
of  participation  in  them.  These  are  the  more  satis- 
factory because  incidental  and  unobtrusive.  One 
of  them  occurs  in  the  opening  chapter  (verses  10, 
11),  indicating  recent  contact  with  Egypt,  where, 
as  Erman  remarks,  "a  scribe  was  an  oflficial,  and 
the  scribe  of  the  troops  was  one  of  the  chief  officers." 
The  "officers"  whom  Joshua  sent  through  hosts 
with  commands,  were  literally  writers  or  scribes, 
as  the  word  is  rendered  in  the  Septuagint.^  The 
waters  of  the  Jordan  were  dried  up  (v.  i)  "till  zue 
were  passed  over"f  and  the  land  they   were   to 

7  In  this  part  of  the  narrative,  Kautzsch,  who  assigns  it  to  E,  would  ex- 
tinguish the  reminiscence  by  having  Dt.  modify  this  one  verse.  Oettli 
changes  it. 

8  This  is  the  reading  of  the  Hebrew  text.  The  Massoretes  put  "they"  in 
the  margin,  the  reading  of  the  Ixx.,  followed  by  early  translations.  The  R. 
v.  retains  the  reading  of  the  text.  So  does  Dillmann,  though  treating  it  as 
spoken  communicatively,  the  writer  identifying  himself  with  the  people. 


18  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

enter  was  the  land  "which  the  Lord  sware  that  he 
would  give  unto  us"  (verse  6).  The  designation 
of  the  boundaries  of  Judah  is  addressed  directly  to 
them;  "this  shall  be  your  south  coast"  (xv.  4). 
It  is  the  language  of  contemporaneousness  with  re- 
ference to  the  transactions  themselves. 

In  some  cases  the  proximity  of  the  narrative  to 
the  event,  and  thus  its  authenticity,  are  indicated 
(whether  by  the  author  or  his  annotator)  by  certain 
monuments  remaining  "to  this  day";  the  twelve 
stones  commemorating  the  crossing  of  the  Jordan 
(iv.  9),  the  stones  at  the  cave  where  the  five  kings 
were  buried  (x.  27),  those  over  the  grave  of  the 
king  of  Ai  (viii.  29),  and  also  over  Achan.  The 
valleys  of  Achor  (vii.  26),  and  of  Gilgal  (v.  9), 
were  named  from  the  events  that  took  place  at  the 
time,  as  was  the  change  of  Leshem  to  Dan  by  the 
conquering  tribe  (xix.  47).  Whatever  date  may  be 
assigned  to  "this  day,"  the  existence  of  the  memo- 
rial at  that  date  was  a  voucher  for  the  fact  which  it 
commemorated.  But  in  one  noteworthy  instance 
the  name  of  the  place  as  known  then  completely 
disappeared  from  that  time ;  Sharahen  is  mentioned 
by  Thothmes  III.  as  a  city  of  southern  Palestine ; 
and  a  city  of  the  same  name  is  among  those  as- 
signed by  Joshua  in  the  same  region  to  the  tribe  of 
Simeon.  But  the  name  occurs  nowhere  in  the  Old 
Testament  except  in  this  book  of  Joshua  (xix.  6). 
If  the  same  place  was  intended  by  Shilhim  (xv.32), 
and  by  Shaaraim  (i  Chron.  iv.  31),  the  variation 
and  uncertainty  would  show  still  more  effectively 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  19 

the    antiquity    and    obsoleteness    of     the     name. 

3.  The  life-like  minuteness  of  much  of  the  nar- 
rative marks  its  original  and  contemporaneous 
origin.  Thus  the  account  of  the  spies  is  not  only 
minute  but  peculiar  in  its  details :  the  place  of  re- 
sort, with  its  unusual  location,  affording  unnoticed 
access  and  easy  escape ;  the  inquiry  and  the  false 
reply ;  the  singular  concealment ;  the  chase  five  or 
six  miles  to  the  fords  while  they  are  hiding  three 
days  in  some  one  of  the  innumerable  caves  of  the 
mountains  close  by,  before  the  shutting  of  the  gate 
at  night-fall;  the  device  for  the  harlot's  protection ; 
the  conversation,  with  its  phrase  not  found  else- 
where ("this  line  of  scarlet  thread") ;  the  stalks  of 
flax  also  elsewhere  unmentioned,  and  puzzling  to 
some  of  the  commentators ;  the  panic  disclosed  in 
Jericho  ;  the  oath  and  its  conditions  ;  the  descent  by 
a  rope  from  a  window  and  the  binding  of  the  cord 
in  the  window — in  all  this,  however  it  comes  to  us, 
we  have  clearly  the  very  story  of  the  spies  them- 
selves.'' 

The  account  of  the  crossing  of  the  Jordan,  though 
not  constructed  on  the  method  of  modern  composi- 
tion (and  ascribed  by  Kautzsch  to  six  different 
writers  in  twelve  distinct  portions),  is  much  more 
circumstantial  and  complete,  and  on  the  whole  more 
easily  understood  than  Csesar's  account  of  his  cross- 
ing of  the  Rhine ;  the  capture  of  Jericho,  and  espe- 

9  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  in  the  summer  of  1894  the  explorer,  Mr.  F, 
J.  Bliss,  found  at  Tell  es  Sultan,  universally  recognized  as  occupying  the 
site  of  pre-Israelitish  Jericho,  traces  of  a  mud-brick  wall  at  the  base  of  the 
mound,  and  in  it  specimens  of  Amorite  or  pre-Israelitish  pottery,  like  that 
found  in  the  oldest  stratum  at  Tell  el  Hesy.  (Quarterly  Statement  of  Pales- 
tine Exploration  Fund,  July,  1894.) 


20  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

cially  the  warlike  movements  attending  the  conquest 
of  Ai,  are  given  much  more  vividly  and  minutely 
than  the  account  of  the  first  invasion  of  Britain ; 
while  at  Ai  we  can  easily  fix  on  a  place  for  the 
"ambush"  and  find  room  for  the  military  operations, 
whether  we  locate  the  ancient  Ai  exactly  at  Et  Tell 
(with  Grove,  Thomson,  and  others),  or  at  some 
spot  in  the  vicinity.  There  is  also  a  touch  of  our 
recently  acquired  oriental  history  in  the  "Babylonish 
garment,"  or  mantle,  secreted  by  Achan. 

How  can  any  one  take  that  entire  account  of  the 
stratagem  of  the  Gibeonites  and  its  issues  as  other 
than  a  living  picture  ?  And  the  battle  in  their  de- 
fense afterwards,  which  Stanley  characterizes  as  one 
of  the  most  important  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
is  described  succinctly  and  with  the  minuteness  of 
a  personal  participation :  the  assembly  of  the  five 
hostile  kings  designated  by  name  and  place,  the 
pressing  message  from  Gibeon,  Joshua  "ascending" 
from  Gilgal  up  one  of  the  two  wadies,  the  all-night 
march  (some  twenty  miles),  and  coming  upon  them 
"suddenly,"  the  slaughter  on  the  spot,  the  chase  up 
and  down  to  Beth-horon,  to  Azekah  (Tell  Zaka- 
riah)  and  Makkedah  (El  Mughar),  the  caves,  the 
hiding  of  the  kings  in  the  cave,  the  guarding  of  the 
cave  till  the  end  of  the  chase,  the  production,  hu- 
miliation and  execution  of  the  kings,  the  taking 
down  of  their  bodies  at  sunset,  the  entombment, 
and  the  great  stones  laid  at  the  cave's  mouth. 

With  greater  brevity,  but  with  equal  definiteness 
and  exactness  of  local  correspondence,   is  the  other 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  2i 

and  greater  battle  at  the  north  described  (xi.  1-14)  : 
the  vast  gathering  of  designated  tribes  and  kings  at 
the  waters  of  Merom,  that  is,  on  the  broad  plain  of 
Huleh  (four  miles  wide  on  its  western  side),  where 
the  "horses  and  chariots"  could  be  brought  into 
action,  Joshua  again  coming  suddenly  upon  them 
and  chasing  them  towards  their  several  territories 
— towards  great  Sidon  northwest  through  plain, 
gorge,  and  ford,  towards  Misrephoth  (perhaps  Mus- 
heirifeh)/"  near  the  coast  on  the  way  to  Dor,and  unto 
the  valley  of  Mispeh  eastward,  that  is  (as  Dr. 
Thomson  thinks),  by  the  great  Wady  et  Theim  or 
over  the  ridge  of  Hermon. 

The  brief  description  of  the  solemn  reading  of 
the  law  and  of  the  blessings  and  the  curses  at  Mount 
Ebal  and  Gerizim  in  the  valley  of  Shechem,  shows 
distinctly  not  only  the  arrangement  of  the  people, 
with  their  officers,  divided  in  two  halves  with  the 
priests  before  them  and  the  ark  between  them,  but 
the  scene  is  made  complete  by  the  presence  of  the 
women,  the  little  ones  and  the  strangers  in  the  au- 
dience. And  while  it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose 
the  two  responsive  groups  to  be  upon  the  mountains, 
yet  if  they  had  been  actually  spread  not  only  up  the 
sides,  but  to  the  top,  the  question  which  has  been 
raised  as  to  the  voice  being  heard  at  that  distance 
has  been  settled  by  experiment.  "In  the  early 
morning,"  says  Tristram,  "we  could  not  only  see 
from  Gerizim  a  man  driving  his  ass  down  a  path  on 

10  Grove's  objection  to  this  identification,  that  "it  is  far  from  Sidon," 
overlooks  the  fact  that  it  was  on  a  different  (third)  line  of  flight  and  need  not 
be  near  Sidon. 


22  THE  VERA  CIl  Y  OF  THE  HEX  A  TE  UCH 

Mount  Ebal,  but  we  could  hear  every  word  he 
uttered ;  and  on  a  subsequent  occasion,  in  order  to 
test  the  matter  more  thoroughly,  two  of  our  party 
stationed  themselves  on  opposite  sides  of  the  valley, 
and  with  perfect  ease  recited  the  commandments 
antiphonally.""  Bonar  and  other  travelers  have 
done  the  same  thing  with  the  same  result.  The 
writer  of  "Joshua"  knew  what  he  narrated. 

A  noteworthy  indication  of  the  presence  of  Israel 
on  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  when  the  arrangements 
were  made  for  crossing  it,  is  found  in  the  explana- 
tion of  the  phrase  "beyond  Jordan'' in  ch.  i.  15.  As 
the  people  were  then  on  the  east  side  of  the  river, 
King  James's  translators  changed  the  text  by 
wrongly  rendering ''this  side  of  Jordan"  ;w7hereas  the 
phrase  was  the  usual  geographical  term  for  the  east 
side  of  the  river.  To  avoid  any  misunderstanding  the 
writer,  being  on  that  east  side  and  having  used  the 
term  in  verse  14  in  its  usual  sense,  repeats  it  in  verse 
15  with  the  added  explanation,  "toward  the  sun- 
rising."  In  the  mouth  of  the  Gibeonites,  permanent 
residents  of  Palestine  (ix.  10),  it  needed  no  such 
explanation.  But  in  three  instances  (v.  i  ;  xii.  7 ; 
xxii.  7)  the  writer  uses  the  phrase  in  its  untochni- 
cal  s  nse,  namely,  the  other  side  of  the  river  from 
his  position  (as  also  in  Deut.  xi.  30),  but  in  each 
instance  carefully  adds  "westward".  The  twofold 
and  unsettled  usage,  with  explanation,  indicates  the 
presence  of  the  new-comer. 

The  same  fact  perhaps   appears  in  so  slight  a 

II  Tristram,  The  Land  of  Israel,  p.  152. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  23 

matter  as  the  spelling  of  the  name  Jericho.  In  the 
Pentateuch  it  occurs  eleven  times,  invariably  spelled 
in  the  same  way  ;  in  Joshua  it  occurs  fourteen  times, 
as  invariably  spelled  in  a  slightly  different  way, 
implying  also  a  slightly  different  pronunciation. 
What  does  it  signify?  "The  natural  reply, "  in  the 
words  of  Canon  Girdlestone,  "  is  that  they  picked 
up  a  new  pronunciation  after  they  came  to  the 
place. '"^  All  these  things,  greater  and  smaller, 
point  to  personal  knowledge,  contact  and  participa- 
tion. 

4.  The  commemoration  of  some  of  the  promi- 
nent events  by  memorial  names  and  landmarks,  al- 
ready mentioned,  deserves  distinct  attention  as  a 
venerable  and  national  testimony. 

5.  Another  mark  of  authenticity  is  found  in  the 
minute  and  well-nigh  exhaustive  description  of  the 
land  in  the  conquest,  and  more  especially  in  the 
assignment  to  the  tribes.  It  makes  the  reasonable 
impression  of  being  the  contemporaneous  record  of 
a  governmental  transaction,  and  has  gained  for  the 
book  of  Joshua  the  name  of  the  "Domesday  Book" 
of  Palestine.  So  full  is  the  record  that  we  have 
first  the  definite  list  of  thirty-one  kings  or  local 
chiefs  who  were  conquered  and  dispossessed  (xii. 
7-24),  then  a  statement  of  the  regions  at  the  time 
still  unconquered  (xiii.  1-7),  followed  by  the  assign- 
ment of  their  respective  territories  to  the  several 
tribes,  with  a  description  of  their  boundaries  from 
point   to   point,  by  cities,  natural   landmarks,    and 

12  Girdlestone,  Lex  Mosaica,  p.  ng.     In   the  Pentateuch  inT;  in  Joshua 
in^T*.    The  Massoretes  punctuate  with  different  vowels. 


24  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

main  points  of  compass,  completed  by  an  enumera- 
tion of  the  towns  thus  included.  That  this  was  an 
official  anticipatory  allotment  in  Joshua's  time  is 
supported  by  two  considerations:  (i)  that,  as  we 
are  informed,  the  tribes  did  not  then  succeed  in  tak- 
ing possession  of  the  allotted  territory,  and  (2)  that 
it  cannot  be  shown  that  at  any  subsequent  period, 
w^hether  in  the  times  of  the  judges  or  kings,  much 
less  after  the  exile,  did  the  several  tribes  actually 
occupy  these  precise  territories. 

But  although  the  lines  could  not  then  be  run  by 
the  surveyor's  compass, the  boundaries  are  described 
in  a  thoroughly  business-like  way,  with  the  distinct- 
ness of  a  title  deed,  very  different  from  the  loose 
grants  first  made  by  England  and  France  in  Amer- 
ica, and  much  more  exact  and  definite  than  for  a 
long  time  were  the  boundary  lines  of  portions  of 
the  United  States.  In  truth,  owing  to  the  small- 
ness  of  the  territory  and  the  irregularity  of  its  sur- 
face (and  the  lack  of  the  compass),  the  reference  to 
natural  landmarks  is  extraordinarily  abundant.  One 
has  but  to  read  the  description  of  Judah's  territory 
(ch.  XV.  1-12)  to  appreciate  the  fact.^^ 

No  less  striking  is  the  list  of  towns  and  cities. 
Some  three  hundred  are  mentioned  by  name,  often 
"with  their  villages."  Now  by  a  process  of  care- 
ful exploration  and  interrogotion,  inaugurated  main- 
h'  by  Dr.  Robinson  and  elaborated  by  the  Palestine 
Exploration  Fund,  a  large  part  of  these  places  have 
been  definitely  located.      Many  of  them  were  un- 

jj  See  Appendix,  note  iv. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  25 

known  to  scholars  for  ages,  often  wrongly  identified 
by  mediseval  or  monkish  traditions,  but  now  found 
with  the  true  names  clinging  to  them  as  handed 
down  in  the  native  tongue  of  that  country  of  un- 
changing customs,  frequently  disguised  by  pho- 
netic changes,  but  recoverable  on  analysis,  and  con- 
firmed by  geographical  and  local  facts.  For  it  is 
noteworthy  how  largely  the  lists  of  Joshua  have 
guided  in  the  investigation.  The  author  took  special 
pains  to  make  his  description  clear.  Sometimes  he 
did  it  by  adding  a  second  name,  perhaps  a  newer 
one  to  the  older,  as  in  the  case  of  Hebron,  Hazor, 
Debir,  Kirjath-jearim,  Jerusalem ;  even  more  fre- 
quently b}^  giving  its  situation,  as  Aroer,  Michme- 
thah,  Geliloth,  Bezer,  Ataroth,  Adar,  "Kedesh  in 
Galilee"  (there  being  another  in  the  south  of  Ju- 
dah),  and  "Gilgal  that  is  over  against  the  ascent  of 
Adummim,  which  is  on  the  south  side  of  the  river" 
— there  being  other  Gilgals. 

A  notable  instance  is  that  of  the  Gilgal  of  Josh- 
ua's first  encampment,  distinct  from  two  or  three 
other  places  of  the  same  name,  but  till  recently  un- 
discovered. Even  Dr.  Robinson  had  said  in  1841, 
"No  trace  of  its  name  or  site  remains;"  and  Trist- 
ram, in  1865,  "Nor  does  any  trace  remain,  either 
in  stone  or  tradition,  of  Gilgal."  But  in  the  same 
year  it  was  found,  and  the  finding  has  been  con- 
firmed, in  the  site  called  Jiljulieh,  marked  by  about 
a  dozen  small  mounds  (some  ten  feet  in  diameter 
and  four  feet  high),  and  a  large  oblong  tank  lined 
with  rubble,  and  near  it  a  Bedawin  graveyard,    Jt 


26  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

corresponds  well  with  the  requirements  of  the  nar- 
rative, being  nearly  three  miles  from  the  ancient 
Jericho  and  four  and  a  half  from  the  Jordan/* 

So  Debir  on  the  border  line  of  Judah  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  recognized  since  the  Christian 
Era  till  within  a  few  years  ;  but  has  now  been  iden- 
tified with  Dahariyeh,  situated  among  ancient  tombs 
and  quarries,  with  a  valley,  a  short  distance  to  the 
north,  full  of  springs,  some  on  the  hill-side  and 
some  in  the  bed  of  the  valley,  corresponding  to  the 
"upper  and  nether"  springs  which  Achsah  asked 
and  gained  from  her  father  Caleb  (xv.  19). 

Perhaps  more  interesting  still  was  the  discovery 
of  the  long-lost  Gezer.  It  was  in  Joshua's  time 
and  long  afterwards  an  important  place,  prominent 
(under  the  name  of  Gazara)  also  in  the  time  of  the 
Maccabees.  It  ceased  to  be  inhabited  or  its  site  to 
be  known,  and,  owing  partly  to  an  erroneous  state- 
ment in  the  "Onomasticon,"  its  identification  bad 
been  virtually  given  up  as  a  hopeless  problem. 
But  in  1870  M.  Clermont-Ganneau,  led  by  geo- 
graphical and  historical  considerations,  fixed  upon 
Tell  Jezer,  about  four  miles  W.  N.  W.  of  Amwas. 
On  revisiting  the  place  three  years  later,  the  sagac- 
ity of  his  former  decision  was  rewarded  by  the  dis- 
covery of  three  inscriptions,  "boundary  of  Gezer," 
in  Hebrew  letters,  supposed  by  him  to  belong  to 
the  second  century  B.  C.  There  was  also  discov- 
ered there  about  the  same  time  a  rude  terra  cotta 

14  Conder  regards  "the  recovery  of  Gilgal  as  one  of  the  most  important 
successes  of  the  Survey  work."  (Tent  Work.ii  ,  p.  6.)  It  is  accepted  by  Grove 
and  Wilson.  Clermont-Ganneau  casts  some  doubt  on  it.  (Archseological  Re- 
searches, 1896,  p.  37.) 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA '  2? 

female  figure,  which  from  its  characteristics  he  in- 
clines to  regard  as  a  possible  sample  of  Canaanite 
art/' 

An  incidental  and  therefore  significant  mark  of 
the  early  date  of  the  enumeration  is  the  retention  of 
the  (Hebrew)  article  in  connection  with  many  of 
the  local  names  derived  from  natural  objects.  Thus 
in  Josh,  xviii.  12-27  there  are  seven  such  instances, 
such  as  the  Ramah  (height),  but  simply  Ramah  in 
Neh.  xi.  33,  Jer.  xxxi.  15 ;  and  the  Chephirah 
(village),  but  Chephirah  in  Ezek.  ii.  25  and  Neh. 
vii.  29.  So  also  in  the  case  of  Mizpeh.^^  It  is  like 
the  change  in  the  New  Testament  from  the  descrip- 
tive term  "the  Christ"  of  the  gospels  to  the  proper 
name  "Christ"  of  the  epistles.  It  is  a  point  too 
minute  for  recognition  in  the  Revised  Version,  but 
none  the  less  noteworthy  on  that  account. 

We  mention  in  this  connection  but  one  other  in- 
cidental mark  of  antiquity,  namely,  the  allusions  to 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  and  the  relative  prominence  of  the 
latter  city.  Tyre  is  once  mentioned,  merely  as  a 
fenced  city  (R.  V.xix.29) ;  the  other  city  is  twice 
mentioned  as  "great  Zidon"  (xi.  8;  xix.28),  or,  as 
Gesenius  would  have  it,  "Zidon  the  metropolis"; 
and  the  whole  region  in  which  vSidon  was  situated, 
from  Misrephoth  unto  Lebanon,  is  described  (xiii. 
6)  as  that  of  the  Zidonians.  This  is  not  only  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  admitted  fact  that  Sidon  is  the 
oldest  Phenician  settlement  and  Tyre  its  offspring, 

15  lb.,  pp.  224-275- 

16  But  the  form  Mispab,  occurring  elsewhere,  retains  the  article. 


28"  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

but  with  the  additional  fact  that  for  a  long  period 
it  was  the  chief  city.  Thus  in  Homer  we  find  it 
mentioned  four  times,  and  Tyre  not  once,  except 
by  allusion  to  Tyrian  purple/^ 

Now  this  description  and  distribution  of  territory 
alone  occupies  some  six  chapters,  and  a  large  part 
of  it  is  ascribed  by  German  analysts  to  post-exilic 
priests  and  a  later  compiler  (redactor),  part  of  it  to 
the  later  times  of  the  monarchy;  and  although  some 
portions  are  referred  to  two  writers  (JE)  living  less 
than  four  hundred  years  after  Joshua,  they  are  sup- 
posed to  have  been  so  worked  over  that,  as  stated 
by  Dr.  B.  W.  Bacon,  there  has  been,"  in  the  opinion 
of  all,  such  an  obliteration  of  the  characteristics  of 
J  and  E  by  Rd,  or  so  thorough  an  incorporation  of 
them  into  P^  that  they  are  only  traceable  with  dif- 
ficulty and  in  a  few  passages."  But  any  one  who 
can  believe  that  in  the  troublous  times  of  the  later 
monarchy  or  in  the  revolutionary  condition  after  th<^: 
exile  any  man  or  body  of  men  would  sit  down  to 
the  wearisome  task  of  composing  these  obsolete 
descriptions,  or  that  in  so  doing  they  could  avoid 
the  grossest  antiquarian  errors  as  to  the  state  of 
things  from  six  hundred  to  a  thousand  years  before 
their  time,  or  that  they  could  have  persuaded  their 
contemporaries  that  these  new  assignments  of  terri- 
tory had  come  down  to  them  from  the  days  of  Joshua 
— any  one  who  can  believe  all  this  is  endowed  with 
a  German  rather  than  an  Anglo-Saxon  faith. 

5.     The  consistency  and  candor  of  the  narrative 

17  Iliad,  vi.,  289;  xxiii,,  743     Odyssey,  xv.,  418;  xvii.,424. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  29 

mark  its  truthfulness.  As  an  account  of  a  remark- 
ably skillful  military  campaign  it  is,  with  whatever 
minor  difficulties  attended,  on  the  whole  clear  and 
satisfactory.  It  frankly  recounts  the  errors  and  de- 
feats as  well  as  the  successes  of  the  invading  host. 
The  writer  does  not  claim  a  short  and  easy  subju- 
gation, but  a  long  and  hard  struggle,  a  seven  years' 
war  attended  with  reverses  and  failing  of  absolute 
completeness. 

The  mode  of  entrance  was  wisely  planned.  No 
attempt  was  made  to  force  the  way  directly  north 
from  Kadesh-barnea  against  the  "hill"  strongholds 
(Deut.  i.  43)  where  the  Israelites  had  once  rashly 
ventured,  against  the  w^arning  of  Moses,  and  had 
been  disastrously  routed  to  Hormah  (Num.  iv.  40- 
45);  but  the  same  Hormah  was  taken  in  this  cam- 
paign in  the  course  of  victory  from  the  north  (Josh, 
xii.  13;  XV.  30;  xix.  4).  And  it  is  noteworthy 
that  this  place,  under  its  alternate  name  Zephath 
(Judg.  i.  17), has  apparently  been  found  after  thirty- 
five  hundred  years,  with  the  name  Sebaita  still 
clinging  to  it.^^ 

Instead  of  this  fool-hardy  attempt,  the  Israelites 
were  led  circuitously  through  Edom  and  Moab,  by 
a  course  where  their  line  of  march  and  some  of 
their  halting  places  can  now  be  traced,  till  they  ap- 
peared unexpectedly  east  of  the  Jordan  at  the  north- 
ern end  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Here  was  the  key  of 
Palestine,  and  the  entrance  was  by  the  same  flank 

i3  The  map  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  revised  by  Conder  and 
Wilson,  so  recognizes  it,  after  Palmer,  Rov/land,  Seetzen.  Strack  accepts  it. 
Dillmann  thinks  the  location  suitable,  though  he  is  doubtful  about  the 
phonetic  correspondence  with  Zephath. 


30  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

movement  by  which  the  Arabs  invaded  the  country 
in  the  seventh  centm-y.  It  was  a  direct  push  for 
the  heart  of  the  land,  cutting  its  tribes  in  two. 
Spies,  secretly  sent  over  the  Jordan,  report  a  panic 
already  begun.  The  leader  at  once  crosses  the 
river,  invests  and  captures  Jericho,  a  walled  town, 
where,  in  the  deserted  mound  twelve  hundred  feet 
long  and  from  fifty  to  ninety  feet  high,  the  mud- 
brick  wall  at  the  base  has  within  the  last  three  years 
yielded  fragments  of  the  most  ancient  type  of  Pal- 
estinian pottery. 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  discuss  the  method  of 
crossing,  nor  the  question  whether,  as  some  think, 
the  place  Adam  (mentioned  in  connection  with  it) 
is  the  modern  Damieh,  some  twenty  miles  above 
Jericho.  It  is  perhaps  worth  mentioning  that  M. 
Clermont-Ganneau  has  brought  to  light  a  remark- 
able account,  by  the  Arab  chronicler  Nowairi,  of 
a  complete  obstruction  and  arrest  of  the  flow  of  the 
Jordan,  when  the  waters  were  high  during  the  rainy 
month  of  December,  A.  D.  1267.  He  is  persuaded 
that  the  account  is  thoroughly  historical,  and  that 
it  casts  light  on  the  Bible  narrative.  A  lofty  mound 
(kabar)  on  the  west  bank — so  reads  the  story — was 
undermined,  fell  into  the  river  channel  and  formed 
a  dam  about  twenty-five  miles  above  Damieh,  which 
lasted  several  hours,  the  waters  meanwhile  spread- 
ing over  the  valley  above  the  dam.  This  account, 
if  authentic,  having  respect  only  to  a  natural  occur- 
rence without  any  pre-arrangement  or  prevision, 
would  illustrate  the  Scripture  account  only  as  show- 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  81 

ing  the  conformation  of  the  river  bed  and  adjacent 
region  to  the  requirements  of  the  Scripture  account. 
The  movements  of  the  great  leader  were  rapid  and 
vigorous.  It  was  but  three  days  from  the  report  of 
the  spies  to  the  crossing  of  the  Jordan.  After  the 
brief  pause  at  Gilgal,  Jericho  was  besieged  and 
taken  in  seven  days.  Spies  were  sent  to  Ai,  fol- 
lowed at  once  by  an  expedition  which  was  a  fail- 
ure, and  by  another  with  greater  forces  and  better 
tactics,  which  was  a  victory.  By  this  rapid  stroke 
he  had  gained  a  strategic  point  midway  in  the  coun- 
try, and  the  opportunity  to  strike  further  in  either 
direction.  It  would  be  interesting,  were  it  practica- 
ble, to  follow  his  campaign  in  detail.  The  narra- 
tive, though  brief,  is  almost  as  distinct  an  account 
of  the  making  of  Palestine  as  is  Freeman's  of  the 
making  of  England,  and  explains  the  condition  of 
the  country  as  it  became  known  in  later  times.  But 
vigorous  and  skillful  as  were  his  movements,  the 
writer  is  careful  to  say  that  Joshua  "made  war  a 
long  time  with  those  kings." 

For  the  candor  of  the  history  is  as  marked  as  is 
its  consistency.  It  narrates  the  failures  and  what 
might  be  regarded  as  the  discreditable  things  as 
frankly  as  the  honors  and  the  successes.  The  lodg- 
ing of  the  spies  at  the  harlot's  house ;  the  defeat  in 
the  first  attack  on  Ai ;  the  successful  imposture  of 
the  Gibeonites,  deceiving  not  only  the  princes  of 
the  congregation  but  Joshua  himself ;  the  murmur- 
ing of  the  congregation  against  the  princes  for  not 
breaking  their  oath ;  the  fraud  of   Achan ;  the  ina- 


32  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

bility  to  expel  the  Geshurltes,  the  Maachathites,the 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  and  of  the  cities  around 
Megiddo  ;  the  misunderstanding  and  threatened  war 
between  the  tribes  on  account  of  the  altar  beyond 
Jordan;  and  that  series  of  transactions,  namely, the 
systematic  destruction  of  the  cities  and  all  therein, 
so  severely  criticised  and  condemned  by  those  who 
do  not  grasp  the  whole  situation  in  three  respects, 
(i)  the  issue  at  stake  for  all  time  on  the  destiny  of 
Israel,  (2)  the  deep  and  poisonous  corruption  of  the 
native  tribes,  whose  worship  even  was  a  compound 
of  "blood  and  lust,"  and  (3)  the  right  of  God,  who 
gave  life,  to  take  it,  whether  by  natural  decay  or 
catastrophe,  government  penalty,  or,  should  he  so 
choose,  by  direct  appointment — all  these  things, 
whatever  men  may  think  of  them,  are  there  with- 
out reserve  or  apology.  Surely  one  who  accepts 
the  statement  of  Caesar  or  of  Xenophon,  sufficiently 
favorable  to  themselves,  and  refuses  credence  to 
this  frank,  fearless  and  consistent  history,  account- 
ing, as  it  does,  for  the  subsequent  course  of  events, 
exhibits  an  incredulity  only  less  surprising  than  the 
positive  credulity  of  believing  that  such  a  minutely 
circumstantial  narrative  was  gratuitously  fabricated 
man}'  hundreds  of  years  after  the  alleged  time  of 
the  transaction.  It  imagines  a  piling  up  of  inven- 
tion upon  invention  to  an  unparalleled  extent  and 
with  a  success  equalty  unparalleled — a  success  that 
has  imposed  on  the  wise  and  great  minds  of  the 
world  for  more  than  two  thousand  years,  and  that 
has  been  discredited  in  recent  times  only  on  specu- 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  83 

lative  grounds,  without  the  basis  of  one  known  ex- 
ternal fact. 

6.  Equally  indicative  of  reality  and  truth  is  the 
portraiture  of  Joshua  himself.  It  shows  us  the  nat- 
uarl  development  of  the  early  promise — of  the  clear- 
headed, prompt,  undaunted  young  man  whom  Moses 
appointed  leader  in  the  battle  with  Amalek  (Ex. 
xvii.  9),  who  accompanied  Moses  up  the  mountain 
of  the  law-giving  and  at  his  descent  (xxxii.  17),  who 
remained  in  the  tabernacle  when  Moses  went  to 
plead  for  rebellious  Israel  (xxxiii.  ii),  and  who 
stood  unshaken  with  Caleb  when  the  other  ten  spies 
and  all  Israel  were  panic-stricken  and  mutinous ; 
thus  becoming^  the  trained  "minister"  of  Moses, 
and  the  one  man  endowed  with  the  calmness,  firm- 
ness, sagacity,  energy  and  faith  needed  in  the  leader 
of  the  great  and  new  enterprise.  In  its  strength 
and  symmetry,  his  character  was  as  much  beyond 
the  invention  of  later  Judaism  as  it  was  above  the 
level  of  his  own  time.  Without  one  word  of  com- 
ment, he  stands  out  in  fact  not  only  a  great  leader 
"without  fear  or  reproach,"  but  a  majestic  pres- 
ence, so  controlling  his  countrymen  by  the  force  of 
his  example,  influence  and  parting  counsels,  that 
Israel  served  the  Lord  all  the  days  of  Joshua  and 
all  the  days  of  the  elders  that  overlived  Joshua. 
Fact  only  explains  the  record. 

7.  Special  confirmation  comes  from  recently 
discovered  ancient  documents,  namely,  the  tablet 
found  at  Tell  el  Hesy  in  Palestine  and  the  numer- 
ous  similar  ones  (320)  found  at  Tell  Amarna  in 


34  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Egypt.  The  addresses  of  the  letters  fix  their  date 
in  the  reign  of  Amenophis  IV.,  about  1480  B.  C, 
and  therefore  a  considerable  time  before  Joshua's 
conquest.  The  confirmation  as  to  the  state  of  Pales- 
tine in  general,  and  largely  in  detail,  is  recognized 
as  something  remarkable.  Lieutenant  Conder  well 
says  of  them,"  These  letters  are  the  most  important 
documents  ever  discovered  in  connection  with  the 
Bible,  and  they  most  fully  confirm  the  historical 
statements  of  the  book  of  Joshua,  and  prove  the  an- 
tiquity of  civilization  in  Syria  and  Palestine.'"* 

Before  specifying  some  of  these  details  it  may  be 
well  to  say  that  the  list  of  towns  mentioned  in  the 
inscription  of  Thothmes  III., as  conquered  by  him  at 
an  earlier  date  (near  1600  B.  C),  contains  more 
than  fifty  towns  in  Galilee,  Bashan  and  Philistia 
confidently  identified  with  those  in  the  book  of 
Joshua,  besides  some  eighteen  others  conjecturally 
recognized.  The  list  of  Thothmes  is  important  in 
several  respects.  It  proves  the  great  antiquity  of 
the  towns ;  and  as  the  same  names  continued  in  the 
Tell  Amarna  tablets  a  century  or  more  later,  as 
well  as  in  the  Biblical  records,  it  shows  the  tenacity 
with  which  names  of  towns  cling  to  their  sites  in 
that  country.  But  since  most  of  even  the  important 
towns  long  ago  so  completely  disappeared  as  to 
leave  only  the  slight  ruins  known  in  the  native 
tongue  as  "tells,"  it  shows  the  insurmountable  peril 
of  any  late  writer  who  should  attempt  to  portray 
the  conditions  and  events  of  those  times. 

19  Tell  Amarna  Tablets,  p.  6. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  35 

First  of  all,  these  discoveries  settle — not  the  pos- 
sibility and  fact  of  writing  in  the  time  of  Moses  and 
Joshua,  for  that  was  settled  long  ago  against  the 
doubts  and  denials  of  some  scholars  early  in  this 
century — but  they  show  the  probability  of  its  use  by 
them.  It  had  long  been  found  that  in  the  land  from 
which  their  ancestor  Abraham  came,  writinof  and 
libraries  were  abundant  before  his  migration ;  also 
that  in  Egypt  the  Israelites  had  been  surrounded  on 
every  hand  by  writing,  as  conspicuous  in  the  farm 
records  of  sheep,  oxen  and  the  like  as  on  the  mon- 
uments of  the  kings;  and  quite  recently  that  in 
Arabia  also  the  arts  of  civilization  (including  that 
of  writing)  existed  apparently  as  early  as  the  con- 
quest. And  now  it  is  absolutely  settled  that  in  the 
land  to  which  the  Israelites  were  journeying,  the 
art  of  writing,  and  that  in  a  very  elaborate  form, 
was  widespread  and  long  established.  There  are 
letters  from  Tennib,  Gebal,  Beirut,  Tyre,  Accho 
(Acre),  Hazor,  Joppa,  Askelon,  Makkedah,  La- 
chish,  Gezer,  Jerusalem,  and  other  cities  not  named, 
east  and  west,  north  and  south.  Among  the  other 
places  mentioned  in  the  letters  are  Rabbah,  Keilah, 
Sarepta,  Edrei,  Ashtaroth,  Gaza,  Gath,  Zemar, 
Zorah,  Beth-shemesh,  and  others  of  less  note,  in 
all  130  towns.     It  is  the  Palestine  of  Joshua. 

Again,  the  language  of  the  letters  is  noteworthy. 
They  are  written  in  the  cuneiform  (wedge-shaped) 
script,  thus  of  themselves  proving  what  was  once 
disputed  but  already  settled  by  the  monuments — the 
earlier  influence  and  control  of  Babylonia  in  Pales- 


96  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

tine.  But  the  language  itself,  says  Conder,  "is 
very  like  the  Aramaic  of  the  Talmud,  and  is  like 
the  Arabic  in  many  particulars  rather  than  like 
Hebrew.  It  is  the  same  language,  in  an  archaic 
condition,  which  is  now  spoken  in  Palestine.  "^*^ 
Sayce  also  maintains  that  the  disclosures  of  the  let- 
ters prove  that  "long  before  the  Israelitish  invasion 
the  language  of  Canaan  was  in  all  respects  the 
same  as  that  of  the  Old  Testament,"^* — meaning, 
as  his  illustrations  show,  in  its  fundamental  char- 
acter rather  than  in  all  its  details.  But  the  fact  that 
the  language,  if  Aramaic,  was  in  an  archaic  con- 
dition, has  an  important  bearing  upon  attempts  at 
minute  analysis ;  and  assignments  to  certain  definite 
constituents  must  be  gravely  affected  by  the  possi- 
bility, if  not  the  probability,  of  a  revision  of  the 
whole  early  history  having  taken  place,  to  make  it 
intelligible  in  later  times ;  if  not  so  thorough  a  re- 
vision as  would  be  necessary  to  make  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  version  of  the  Gospels  of  A.  D.  955  intelli- 
gible to  a  reader  of  the  present  time,  yet  perhaps 
quite  as  much  as  would  be  requisite  for  Wickliffe's 
Gospels  of  1384.  The  consideration  will  bear  more 
emphasis  than  it  has  received. 

Again,  these  documents  disclose  a  condition  of 
the  tribes  in  Palestine  such  as  is  described  in  Joshua. 
The  enemies  encountered  by  Joshua  are  specified 
in  the  narrative  as  the  Hittites,  the  Amorites,  the 
Canaanites,  the   Perizzites,  the  Hivites,  the  Jebu- 

20  Tell  Amarna  Tablets,  p.  3. 

31  The  Higher  Critics  and  the  Monuments,  p.  357. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  87 

sites.  Of  these  the  first  two  appear  most  promi- 
nent. In  one  instance  (i.  4)  the  whole  territory  is 
summarily  described  as  the  land  of  the  Hittites ; 
the  Hittites  appear  in  every  general  enumeration  of 
the  tribes  (iii.  10;  ix.  i;  xi.  3 ;  xii.  8),  and  the 
Hittites  and  the  Amorites  usually  appear  first  in 
each  enumeration — in  three  of  these  instances. 
They  are  mentioned,  not  as  occupants  of  only  single 
cities,  but  widespread  tribes;  we  read  of  "all  the 
cities  of  Sihon,  king  of  the  Amorites"  (xiii.  10), 
and  of  five  kings  of  the  Amorites  (x.  5),  and  the 
Hittites  are  mentioned  without  any  restricted  local- 
ity- 

Now  it  is  but  forty  years  since  an  Oxford  Fellow^^ 
ventured  to  pronounce  the  Bible  references  to  the 
Hittites  "unhistorical,"  and  still  later  (1883)  an- 
other Oxford  Fellow  (now  professor)"^  in  the  En- 
cyclopaedia Britannica  said  substantially  the  same 
thing.  But  meanwhile  the  records  of  Rameses  H. 
have  exhibited  the  Hittites  as  in  his  day  (the  sup- 
posed era  of  the  oppression)  a  powerful  nation  on 
the  north,  with  whom  his  battles  were  apparently 
a  drawn  game,  and  with  whom  he  was  glad  to  form 
a  treaty ;  while,  curiously  enough,  he  speaks  in  the 
very  words  of  Joshua  (i.  3)  of  "the  land  of  the 
Hittites"  (except  that  he  calls  it  "the  great  land") ; 
and  quite  notably  the  Tell  Amarna  letters,  a  century 
earlier,  speak  of  the  "kings  of  the  land  of  the  Hit- 
tites" and  "the  land  of  the  Amorites,"  these  two 
being  then  the  formidable  foes  of  the  then  Egyptian 

23  F.  W.  Newman.  23  T.  K.  Cheyne, 


38  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

governors  in  Palestine.  In  the  letters  published  by 
Conder  mention  is  made  of  the  Hittites  at  least 
twenty  times,  and  eleven  times  of  the  land  of  the 
Hittites;  and  the  nation  appears  pressing  down 
from  the  north  upon  Palestine,  the  terror  of  all  the 
northern  cities.  The  Amorites  are  mentioned  at 
least  eleven  times,  and,  next  to  the  Hittites,  appear 
to  be  the  most  formidable  foe.  Here  also  are  the 
Canaanites,  the  king,  and  once  the  kings,  of  the 
land  of  Canaan.  Six  letters  are  from  the  king  of 
Jerusalem,  the  city  bearing  then  the  name  applied 
to  it  in  Joshua  (xv.  6'^\  xvi.  28).  The  king  of 
Hazor,  who  is  described  in  Joshua  as  the  "head  of 
the  kingdoms"  (xviii.  10)  that  fought  the  battle  of 
Merom,  has  two  letters  speaking  of  the  city  and 
"her  fortresses";  and  his  name  is  rendered  "Jabin" 
by  Conder.  The  ancient  rivalry  of  Tyre  and 
Sidon  is  also  indicated  in  the  letters.  We  thus  find 
ourselves  in  the  midst  of  the  tribes  mentioned  in 
our  book  not  long  subsequent  to  this  time. 

Again,  these  letters  show  the  weakening  power 
of  Egypt  in  Palestine,  and  an  evident  tendency  to- 
wards the  complete  withdrawal  of  the  troops,  which 
must  have  preceded  the  conquest  by  Israel.  Thoth- 
mes  III.  had  conquered  Palestine,  and  Rameses 
II.  had  twice  overrun  the  country  and  subdued  its 
chief  cities.-*  But  his  own  inscriptions  show  that 
his  hold  was  weakening,  from  the  fact  that  he  was 
obliged  to  make  the  second  invasion,  besieging  its 
cities  (e.  g.  Askelon),  and  from  the  fact  that  after 

94  Brugsch,  History  of  Egypt,  II.,  pp.  68,  69. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  39 

his  boasted  but  doubtful  victory  over  the  Hittites 
on  the  Orontes  he  was  constrained  to  make  with 
them  a  treaty  of  alliance.  ^^  In  view  of  the  previous 
known  control  of  the  country,  it  might  have  seemed 
strange  that  Joshua  never  encounters  Egyptian 
troops  there.  The  explanation  is  found  in  these 
tablets :  the  troops  had  been  recently  withdrawn. 
A  large  part  of  the  letters  consists  of  urgent  ap- 
peals to  the  king  of  Egypt  for  troops,  without  any 
indication  of  their  arrival.  Indeed  one  of  the  writers 
from  Phenicia  says,  "If  you  grant  us  no  Egyptian 
soldiers  no  city  in  the  plains  will  be  zealous  for 
thee,"  and  he  adds, "The  chain  of  Egyptian  soldiers 
has  quitted  all  the  lands ;  they  have  disappeared  to 
the  king."^^  The  king  of  Jerusalem  writes  in  the 
same  strain:  "The  Abiri  chiefs  plunder  all  the 
lands.  Since  the  chiefs  of  the  soldiers  have  gone 
away,  quitting  the  lands  this  year,  O  king,  my 
lord,  and  since  there  is  no  chief  of  Egyptian 
soldiers,  there  is  ruin  to  the  lands  of  the  king,  my 
lord."^^  The  letters,  says  Sayce,  show  "that  all 
parts  of  Palestine  were  in  that  disturbed  condition 
which  usually  precedes  the  fall  of  the  central  au- 
thority. Enemies  were  attacking  it  from  without, 
and  the  petty  princes  were  fighting  among  them- 
selves within."  This  weakened  state  of  affairs  was 
the  condition  in  which  Joshua  found  the  land,  and 
was  the  preparation  for  the  success  of  his  invasion. 

25  lb.,  n.,  pp.  71-76. 

26  Conder's  Tell  Amarna  Letters,  p.  63. 

27  Winkler's  collection  of  296  of  these  letters,  most  of  them  from 
Phenician  and  Canaanite  princes,  gives  a  still  more  striking  exhibition  of 
the  disorder  and  alarm  pervading  the  country. 


40  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

It  deserves  mention  in  this  connection  also  that  the 
inscriptions  at  Wady  Maghara  and  Sarabit  el  Kha- 
dim  in  the  Sinaitic  peninsula  show  records  of  mon- 
archs  before  and  after  the  supposed  time  of  the  pas- 
sage of  the  IsraeliteSjbutnone  of  that  date,  account- 
ing for  the  fact  that  they  met  no  Egyptian  troops  on 
the  way. 

No  less  remarkable  is  the  correspondence  and  con- 
firmation afforded  by  these  letters  in  minor  details. 
In  Joshua  we  read  that  the  cities  of  the  Anakim 
were  "great  and  fenced"  (xiv.  12),  and  that  the 
survivors  of  the  battle  of  Gibeon  entered  into 
"fenced  cities"  (xii.  20).  Jericho  and  Ai  were 
walled,  and  the  implication  is  that  it  was  so  with 
Lachish  (x.  31).  In  the  letters  we  read  in  as  many 
as  six  places  of  a  fortress,  three  times  of  fortresses, 
with  specifications.  It  was  at  the  base  of  the  mound 
of  ancient  Jericho  (es  Sultan),  as  previously  men- 
tioned, that  Mr.  Bliss  in  1894  found  traces  of  the 
mud-brick  wall  containing  specimens  of  the  most 
ancient  pottery ;  and  at  Tell  el  Hesy  (supposed  to 
be  Lachish)  the  same  explorer  in  1890  excavated 
a  series  of  ruined  walls  overlying  each  other,  and 
preceding  the  Greek  occupation,  apparently  corre- 
sponding well  to  the  Scripture  notices  of  the  place 
in  the  times  of  Manasseh,  Hezekiah,  Ahaz,  Jehosh- 
aphat,  Rehoboam,  the  Judges,  attended  with  a  cor- 
responding change  of  pottery,  till  he  reached  in  the 
lower  stratum  that  kind  which  is  regarded  as 
Amorite.^^ 

28  Petrie's  Tell  el  Hesy,  p.  41.     Bliss'  Mound  of  Many  Cities,  pp.  40,  41. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  41 

Except  on  the  basis  of  actual  knowledge,  it  was 
a  most  unsafe  thing  to  ascribe  chariots  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Palestine  at  that  remote  period.  But  the 
writer  of  Joshua  mentions  them  both  in  the  north  at 
LakeMerom  (xi.  4,  6),  and  in  the  valley  of  Jezreel, 
in  Beth-shan  and  vicinity,  that  is,  in  the  center  and 
in  the  eastern  part  of  Palestine.  The  tablets  fully 
verify  his  statements.  Not  only  are  Egyptian 
chariots  spoken  of  and  called  for  not  less  than  a 
dozen  times,  but  the  Hittites  are  coming  to  Tennib 
with  chariots ;  we  read  of  chariots  at  Khazi,  at 
Irkata,  chariots  sent  to  Gebal  in  Phenicia,  the 
horses  and  chariots  of  the  chief  of  Beirut,  chariots 
at  Makkedah,  and  the  chariots  and  horses  of  the 
chief  of  Naziba.  The  numerous  horses  and  chariots 
of  the  Hittites  are  also  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  battle  of  Rameses  II.  on  the  Orontes,  as 
described  in  the  poem  of  the  Pentaur. 

The  wedge  of  gold  of  fifty  shekels  weight  se- 
creted by  Achan  is  accounted  for  by  the  abundant- 
Babylonish  intercourse  involved  in  the  general  use 
of  the  Babylonish  writing ;  and  by  the  frequent 
mention  of  gold  in  these  letters,  once  even  a  throne 
of  gold  for  the  king  (of  Eg3'pt),  once  a  bag  full  of 
gold,  as  a  present. 

The  trumpets  at  Jericho  find  an  echo  in  the  let- 
ters where  the  chief  of  Pabaha  "made  the  trumpets 
to  be  blown."  The  introductory  salutation  in  al- 
most every  letter  in  which  the  writer  addresses  the 
king  of  Egypt  contains  the  phrase,  "I  bow  myself 
seven  times  at  the   feet   of   my  lord,"  occasionally 


42  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

"seven  times  seven  times";  thus  reminding  us  in 
general  of  the  peculiarity  of  the  number  seven  both 
in  Canaan  and  in  Egypt,  and  especially  how  a  few 
miles  east  of  the  Jordan,  and  at  an  earlier  date, Jacob 
had  "bowed  himself  seven  times  to  the  ground  un- 
til he  came  to  his  brother."     (Gen.  xiii.  3). 

As  Joshua  found  horses  already  in  the  country 
(xi.  6,  9),  and  sheep  and  oxen  at  Jericho  (vi.  21), 
the  tablets  contain  seven  letters  from  Yadaya,  cap- 
tain of  the  horse  at  Ascalon,  and  the  king  of  Naziba 
goes  with  his  horses  and  chariots ;  while  sheep  and 
oxen  are  sent  from  Ascalon  to  meet  the  soldiers, 
and  a  thousand  oxen  belonging  to  Yasdata  of  Mak- 
kedah  are  slain  by  his  enemy.  ^^ 

As  Joshua  informs  the  tribes  (xxiv.  13),  "The 
vineyards  and  oliveyards  which  ye  planted  not,  ye 
do  eat,"  so  we  find  the  captain  of  the  horse,  in 
the  letters,  sending  "oil  and  drink"  to  meet  the 
soldiers  of  the  king. 

The  low  stage  of  civilization,  or  barbarism,  which 
some  modern  writers  choose  to  find  prevailing  in  and 
around  Palestine,  is  disproved  by  these  facts,  as  well 
as  the  following:  Ships  of  Sidon  (p.  107),  ships  of 
the  land  of  the  Amorites  (p.  46),  Beirut  and  Sidon 
sending  ships  (p.  51),  wheat,  herbs  and  trees  of  the 
garden  at  Gebal  (p.  80),  gardens  and  mulberries 
at  Beirut  (p.  98),  tin  at  Tennib  (p.  31)  and  a  chain 
of  bronze  (p.  42),  copper  and  agate  at  T3're  (p. 
106),  silver  that  is  pure  (p.  154),  plenty  of  silver 
and  gold  in  the  temple   of   the   gods  (p.  92),  male 

29  It  was  not  thought  best  to  encumber  the  text  or  the  notes  with  the  pages 
pf  these  references,  although  contained  in  the  author's  manuscript, 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  43 

and  female  slaves  (p.  90),  even  the  cultivation  of 
the  papyrus  (p.  90),  and  apparently  its  use  for 
writing  (p.  126).      The  degradation  was  in  morals. 

The  phraseology  of  the  tablets  occasionally  and 
unexpectedly  illustrates  that  of  the  Scriptures.  The 
word  Elohim  (God),  which  in  Joshua,  as  through- 
out the  Old  Testament,  is  a  plural  with  a  singular 
meaning,  is  found  as  a  plural  in  addressing  the  king 
of  Egypt  as  "a  god  and  a  sun  in  my  sight"  (p.  18). 
The  writer's  "countenance  is  towards  the  servants 
of  the  king"  (p.  35),  he  is  "the  footstool  at  the 
feet  of  the  king, "his  enemy  is  a  "dog"  (p.  65),  and 
sometimes  "the  rebel  son  of  a  dog"  (p.  34);  and 
it  is  quite  striking  to  find  the  phrase  with  which 
Shimei  cursed  David,  "Thou  man  of  blood"  (2 
Sam.  xvi.  7),  occurring  more  than  a  dozen  times  in 
these  letters.  Other  instances  might  be  mentioned, 
as,  for  example,  the  name  of  Abimelec  at  Tyre. 

8.  A  memorable  event,  significant  alike  for  the 
histor}^  of  Egypt  and  of  Palestine,  was  the  burial 
of  Joseph,  thus  recorded  (xxiv.  32):  "And  the 
bones  of  Joseph,  which  the  children  of  Israel  brought 
up  out  of  Egypt,  buried  they  in  Shechem  in  a 
parcel  of  ground  which  Jacob  bought  of  Hamor 
the  father  of  Shechem  for  a  hundred  pieces  of  sil- 
ver ;  and  it  became  the  inheritance  of  the  children 
of  Joseph."^" 

This  statement  is  confirmed  as  strongly  as  the  cir- 

30  We  do  not  care  to  include  in  thesa  references  Conder's  name,  Adoni- 
zebek,  for  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  inasmuch  as  Dr.  Winkler  and  Dr.  Sayce 
render  otherwise.  Nor  can  we,  for  a  similarreason,  accept  the  translation 
of  "Habiriy  as  Hebrew  (with  Conder)  or  Confederates  (with  Sayce);  nor  is 
the  rendering  of  Sayce,  "without  father  or  mother''  (as  applied  to  the  king 
of  Jerusalem),  sufficiently  established. 


44  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

cumstances  admit  by  both  Palestinian  and  Egyptian 
sources.  In  that  land  where  names  cling  to  places, 
the  supposed  tomb  of  Joseph  is  still  revered  by  Jews, 
Samaritans,  Mohammedans  and  Christians.  Al- 
though we  can  trace  this  tradition  only  to  the  early 
part  of  the  fourth  century,  intrinsically  there  is  no 
more  reason  for  supposing  that  the  burial  place  of 
Joseph  would  have  been  forgotten  than  that  of 
Charlemagne,  who  was  buried  at  Aix-la-Chapelle 
more  than  a  thousand  years  ago.  The  destruction 
of  the  original  chapel  which  Charlemagne  built  for 
his  burial  place  did  not  obliterate  the  memory  of  it, 
and  the  exploration  of  the  vault  beneath  the  pres- 
ent cathedral  proved  the  truth  of  the  belief ;  but 
though  fear  of  the  population  of  Nablous  is  said  to 
have  prevented  a  similar  examination  of  the  tomb 
of  Joseph,  it  would  be  difficult  to  render  a  valid 
reason  for  doubting  the  ancient  tradition. ^^ 

But  recently  a  corroboration  has  been  acutely 
observed  in  an  Egyptian  source.  It  is  found  in  the 
well-known  statements  preserved  by  Josephus  from 
the  great  Egyptian  historian  Manetho  (about  300 
B.  C.)  and  the  later  Chaeremcn,  who,  though  a 
Greek,  lived  and  wrote  in  Alexandria.  Although 
these  accounts  are  confused  and  contain  many  mani- 
fest mistakes  as  to  names,  dates  and  numbers  (some 
of  them  attributed  to  errors  and  corrections  by 
scribes), it  is  conceded  by  sober  judges,  like  Koenig, 
Brugsch,  Bunsen,  and  Ewald,^''  that  Manetho  was  a 

31  Tristram's  Land  of  Israel,  p.  149. 

32  Koenig,  History  of  the  Hebrews,  Eng.  Trans.,  pp.  257-9.  BruRSch,  His- 
tory of  Egypt,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  42-3.  Bunsen's  Egypt's  Flace,  I.,  89;  III.,  196-7. 
Ewald's  History  of  Israel,  I.,  p.  502  ff. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  45 

learned  and  able  historian,  and  under  his  account 
of  the  Jews  and  their  exit  there  was,  in  the  words 
of  Koenig,  "a  core  of  historical  truth"  with  Egyp- 
tian coloring.  Now  from  the  midst  of  statements 
not  concerning  the  present  question  there  emerges 
the  following :  that  the  mixed  multitude  (described 
by  him  as  leprous)  made  war  upon  the  king  of 
Egypt,  having  chosen  as  their  ruler  a  priest  of  He- 
liopolis  (On)  whose  name  was  Osarsiph ;  that  the 
king  at  first  retreated  before  them,  but  afterwards 
conquered  them  and  drove  them  to  Syria ;  and  that 
Osarsiph  changed  his  name  and  was  called  Moses. 
Chaeremon  (also  quoted  by  Josephus)  mentions 
Joseph  and  Moses  as  scribes  who  led  an  assault 
upon  the  Egyptian  king ;  he  fled  before  the  attack, 
but  his  son,  born  at  the  time,  when  grown  to  man's 
estate  pursued  the  Jews  into  Syria. 

Now  here,  in  this  partially  disguised  form,  ap- 
pears the  extraordinary  and  unforgotten  fact  that 
when  Moses  led  Israel  up  out  of  Egypt  to  Palestine, 
the  other  great  leader  and  head  of  Israel  in  Egypt 
went  up  with  Moses  to  his  last  resting-place  in  the 
promised  land — the  dead  with  the  living. 

9.  The  chief  events  related  in  the  book  of  Joshua 
are  referred  to  in  the  subsequent  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  as  unquestionable  facts  in  the  histor}^  of 
the  times  of  Joshua.  The  five  most  striking  single 
transactions  there  narrated  are  the  crossing  of  the 
Jordan,  the  taking  of  Jericho,  the  trouble  with 
Achan  and  its  effects,  the  dealings  with  the  Gibe- 
onites,  and  the  Divine  interposition  at  Beth-horon, 


48  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

described  by  a  quotation  from  the  book  of  Jasher. 
The  crossing  of  the  Jordan  is  referred  to  in  Psahn 
cxiv,  3,  5 ;  the  doom  of  Jericho  as  pronounced  by 
Joshua,  in  i  Kings  xvi.  34 ;  the  case  of  Achan  was 
commemorated  in  the  name  then  given  to  the  valley 
of  Achor,  which  became  permanent  (Hosea  ii.  15  ; 
Is.  Ixv.  10),  and  the  words  of  Joshua  are  virtually 
cited  (i  Kings  xviii.  17,  18);  the  treaty  with  the 
Gibeonites,  accompanied  with  an  oath,  is  mentioned 
(2  Sam.  xxi.  2);  the  quotation  from  Jasher  in  Hab. 
iii.  II. 

In  addition  to  these  may  be  mentioned  "the  oak 
of  the  pillar  that  was  in  Shechem"  ( Judg.  ix.  6,  R. 
v.),  a  reference  to  the  pillar  set  up  under  an  oak 
in  Shechem  in  connection  with  his  farewell  address 
and  the  covenant  made  with  Israel  (Josh.  xxiv.  20). 
Solomon's  prayer  (i  Kings  viii.  56,  57)  contains  a 
quotation  from  Josh,  xxiii.  14,  and  a  statement  in 
the  words  of  Josh.  i.  5 ;  and  a  vital  incorporation 
of  a  chief  transaction  recorded  in  this  book  into  the 
permanent  life  of  the  nation  is  found  in  the  fact  con- 
tained in  the  genealogical  table  of  Matthew  (i.  5), 
that  Rahab^^  became  mother  of  Boaz,  the  husband 
of  Ruth,  and  thus  the  ancestress  of  Christ.  These 
verifications  thus  pervading  the  subsequent  history 
of  the  nation  are  all  the  more  satisfactory  that  they 
are  casual  and  incidental ;  and  they  are  the  more 
striking,  as  allusions  to  a  narrative  of  only  twenty- 

33  "The  Rahab"in  Matthew  designating,  as  Bengel  remarks,  the  Rahab  of 
Jericho.  Though  some  objections  have  been  raised,  such  writers  as  Meyer, 
Alford,  Lord  Hervey,  agree  that  no  other  Rahab  can  be  understood  here. 
And  the  validity  of  the  record  would  be  evident  from  the  fact  that  nothing 
but  its  admitted  truth  would  admit  the  name  into  the  ancestry  of  David 
against  Jewish  pride  and  prejudice. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA  47 

four  chapters  and  their  contents,  when  we  observe 
the  common  absence  of  such  allusions  and  confir- 
mations in  connection  with  many  other  thoroughly 
accepted  writings  and  persons  and  events.  For  ex- 
ample, the  great  history  of  Thucydides,  it  is  stated, 
is  not  mentioned  by  Xenophon  nor  in  Aristotle's 
Politics,  nor  indeed  till  Polybius,  between  two  and 
three  hundred  years  later  ;^*  Thucydides  himself  no- 
where mentions  his  contemporary  Socrates;  and 
'*  neither  Herodotus  nor  Thucydides  ever  mentions 
Rome,  though  the  conquests  of  the  Roman  people 
were,  in  the  times  of  those  historians,  extended  far 
and  wide.'"^ 

In  view,  then,  of  all  these  considerations,  nega- 
tive and  positive,  inasmuch  as  on  the  negative  side 
not  one  known  historic  fact  has  been  or  can  be  ad- 
duced to  invalidate  this  history,  and,  on  the  positive 
side,  the  convergence  of  all  these  various  indica- 
tions— all  the  indications  and  confirmations  which 
the  case  admits — it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that 
one  who  refuses  to  accept  the  narrative  as  veritable 
history  in  all  its  main  features,  is  hardly  susceptible 
to  fair  historic  proof  of  remote  events. 

34  Wace,  The  Inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament,  Preface,  p.  xviii. 

35  Gregory's  Evidences  of  Christianity,  p.  220. 


CHAPTER  III 

FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST 

Having  found  that  the  book  of  Joshua  is  essen- 
tially a  narrative  of  facts,  it  is  in  order  to  examine 
its  testimony  upon  the  transactions  preceding  the 
conquest.  We  find  here  that  from  beginning  to 
end  its  statements  and  allusions  are  inseparably  in- 
terlocked with  the  previous  history. 

The  testimony  thus  given  is  by  incidental  and 
natural  allusion,  and  therefore  of  special  weight, 
and  is  a  r^sum^  of  the  chief  events  of  the  previous 
history.  It  is  found  mostly  in  scattered  references, 
except  when  Joshua  near  the  close  of  his  career 
(xxiv.)  prefaces  the  solemn  covenant  of  the  people 
with  a  brief  sketch  of  the  past  dealings  of  God  with 
them  and  their  ancestors.  Beginning  with  the 
mention  of  the  original  home  of  their  ancestor, 
Abraham,  and  the  idolatry  of  their  fathers,  he  pro- 
ceeds with  the  call  of  Abraham,  the  journey  to  Ca- 
naan, the  birth  of  Isaac,  Jacob  and  Esau,  Jacob's 
descent  into  Egypt,  the  plagues,  the  leadership  of 
Moses  and  Aaron,  the  pursuit  by  the  Egyptians 
and  their  destruction  in  the  Red  Sea,  the  long  sea- 
son in  the  wilderness, the  conflict  with  the  Amorites 
and  the  victory,  the  war  with  Moab  and  the  ca- 
reer of  Balaam,  closing  with  the  crossing  of  the  Jor- 
dan and  the  possession  of  the  land.     All  this  is  the 


PROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  49 

fitting  introduction  to  the  solemn  covenant  and  the 
warning  in  regard  to  the  future. 

But  besides  this  connected  retrospect,  there  are 
scattered  throughout  the  book,  and  interwoven  with 
it  from  beginning  to  end,  still  more  numerous  and 
minute  references  to  previous  history.  They  oc- 
cur not  chiefly  as  formal  statements,  but  more  in 
the  conferences  and  addresses,  as  matters  mostly  of 
recent  occurrence,  assumed  to  be  well-known  and 
unquestioned.  All  is  done  with  such  an  air  of 
honesty  and  perfect  reality  that  one  who  impugns 
their  verity  must  ascribe  to  some  unknown  deceiver 
a  marvelous  mania  and  ingenuity  for  fabrication, 
and  an  equally  marvelous  patience  of  needless  in- 
vention. 

Among  these  assumed  and  asserted  facts  are  such 
as  these :  The  assignment  of  the  territorial  bound- 
aries by  Moses  (i.  3,  4) ;  the  giving  of  the  law  by 
him  (i.  7),  in  a  written  form  (i.  8;  viii.  34);  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Red  Sea  (iv.  23) ;  the  conquest  of  Sihon 
and  Og  (ii.  10;  ix.  10);  the  iniquity  of  Peor  (xxii. 
17) ;  the  ark  of  the  covenant  and  the  attendance  of 
the  priests  (iii.  3,seq.) ;  the  established  arrangement 
of  elders  (vii.  6 ;  viii.  10,  2fZ)  >  Moses'  written  com- 
mand to  build  an  altar  (viii.  31) ;  the  blessings  and 
curses  and  the  command  of  Moses  to  read  them  to 
Israel  (viii.  33-35) ;  his  command  to  destroy  the  in- 
habitants of  Canaan  (ix.  24;  xi.  12);  the  commands 
specially  given  to  Joshua  (xi.  15) ;  the  previous 
separation  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  (xiii.  33 ;  xviii.  7) ; 
the  command  of  the  Lord  to  distribute  the  land  to 


60  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

the  tribes  by  lot  (xiv.  i,  2);  the  spies  sent  from  Ka- 
desh-barnea,  their  cowardice,  the  faithfulness  of 
Caleb  and  the  promise  made  to  him  by  Moses  (xiv. 
6-10) ;  the  direction  to  appoint  cities  of  refuge  (xx. 
i),  and  cities  for  the  priests  (xxi.  2). 

It  will  be  perceived  that  the  book  of  Joshua  thus 
repeats  and  verifies  the  chief  facts  of  the  Exodus, 
as  more  fully  narrated  in  the  Pentateuch.  Let  us 
then  look  directly  at  the  narrative  of  that  event,  in 
order  to  see  how  far  it  bears  the  impress  of  truth, 
both  in  its  inherent  consistency,  and  in  its  conform- 
ity to  known  facts  and  circumstances,  many  of  them 
of  recent  discovery. 

It  is  evident  that  the  man  who  by  all  traditions, 
Egyptian,  Hebrew  and  classic,  led  the  movement, 
was  a  remarkable  man.  The  indisputable  proof  is 
that  he  founded  institutions  and  consolidated  a  peo- 
ple more  thoroughly  and  permanently  than  any 
other  man  in  all  history.     This  cannot  be  gainsaid. 

The  leader  knew  the  route  over  which  he  led 
the  host ;  for,  according  to  the  account,  he  had  twice 
been  over  a  large  part  of  it,  going  to  and  from 
Midian ;  and  in  the  forty  years'  interval  he  certainly 
had  opportunity  to  explore  or  learn  of  the  whole 
territory  of  the  wandering,  now  traversed  by  Arabs. 
Furthermore,  on  leaving  Sinai  by  a  route  which  he 
might  not  have  traversed  on  his  way  between  Egypt 
and  Midian,  we  find  him  urgently  requesting  Ho- 
bab,  a  resident  Midianite,  to  be  to  him  "instead  of 
eyes"  in  the  wilderness  before  him  (Num.  x.  31), 
and  the  ark,  apparently  accompanied  by  Moses  him- 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  51 

self,  preceded  the  march  to  search  out  a  resting 
place  or  camping  ground. 

Again,  it  is  made  clear  by  incidental  hints  and 
allusions  that  the  whole  expedition  was  maturely 
arranged  and  completely  organized.  Neither  the 
ordinary  reader  nor,  apparently,  the  ordinary  com- 
mentator has  sufficiently  observed  the  long  and 
careful  preparation.  Moses  was  summoned  to  it 
while  still  in  Midian,  and  therefore  had  opportu- 
nity in  returning  to  Egypt  to  examine  the  route  which 
he  afterwards  took.  On  the  way  he  opened  the 
matter  to  Aaron,  and,  on  his  arrival  in  Egypt,  to 
the  elders.  Moses  and  Aaron  visited  Pharaoh, 
requesting  permission  to  go  to  the  wilderness  to 
sacrifice,  and  were  refused.  Then  the  officers  re- 
monstrated with  Pharaoh  for  the  severity  of  their 
tasks.  Moses  and  Aaron  appear  again  to  have 
visited  the  king  in  vain  (Ex.  vi.  13).  The  length 
of  these  negotiations  does  not  appear,  but  must 
have  consumed  some  time.  Then  came  the  series 
of  plagues,  the  first  of  which  continued  seven  days ; 
and  the  entire  series,  with  the  intervals,  as  has  been 
inferred  from  casual  indications,  such  as  the  slight 
touches  of  reality  concerning  the  barley,  flax,  wheat 
and  rye  (Ex.  ix.  31,  32),  and  ending  with  the  full 
moon  of  the  month  Nisan,  must  have  occupied  sev- 
eral months,  perhaps  nearly  a  year.^ 

The  immediate  notice  for  the  departure,  which 
followed  on  the  fourteenth  of  the  month,  was  given 
before  the  tenth  of  the   month  (Ex.  xii.  3).     The 

I  See  note  vi.,  Appendix. 


52  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

only  mark  of  haste  was  at  the  last  moment,  when 
Pharaoh's  urgency  hurried  them  forth  before  the 
bread  was  leavened  (xii.  34).  But  they  seem  to 
have  had  time  then  or  before  to  ask  (Hebrew  and 
R.  v.,  not  "borrow")  "jewels  of  silver  and  jewels 
of  gold  and  raiment,"  gladly  given  (ver.  36),  to 
hasten  their  departure,  and  justly  due  them  for  all 
the  stationary  property  left  behind,  to  say  nothing 
of  their  unrequited  toil. 

It  appears,  also,  that  they  did  not  go  forth  as  a 
disorderly  crowd,  but  with  orderly  arrangement 
(Ex.  xiii.  18),' "all  their  hosts"  (xii.  41),  "by  their 
hosts"  (xii.  51).  We  are  even  told  the  names  of 
the  men  who  were  "over  the  hosts"  of  the  several 
tribes  as  they  moved  onward  from  Sinai  (Num.  x. 
14-28).  This  division  would  have  enabled  the  great 
company  to  spread,  if  necessary,  over  a  wide  ter- 
ritory on  the  way,  as  Sherman  on  his  march  to  the 
sea  separated  his  army  into  divisions  moving  on 
somewhat  parallel  lines.  They  took  with  them 
their  flocks  and  herds,  needful  for  sustenance,  but 
apparently  reduced  on  the  way.  It  is  to  be  noted 
that  the  ark  with  its  attendants  could  and  some- 
times did  proceed  by  itself. 

The  reason  for  the  abandonment  of  the  direct 
northern  route  is  given,  namely,  the  prospect  of  a 
war  with  the  Philistines  in  their  southern  strong- 
holds, an  obstacle  which  the  rash  people  afterwards 
found  to  be   insuperable  (Num.  xiv.  40-45).     The 

2  See  note  vii.,  Appendix. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  53 

change  of  direction  and  abrupt  turn  to  the  south/ 
when  they  had  already  reached  the  edge  of  the 
wilderness,  gave  Pharaoh's  army  opportunity  to 
overtake  them  before  they  had  left  his  territory. 
Equally  in  accordance  with  known  facts  and  cir- 
cumstances was  the  line  of  march,  so  far  as  it  can 
be  traced.  Their  original  territory  in  Egypt  is  con- 
ceded to  have  comprised  the  wady  Tumilat,  and 
probably,  as  their  numbers  increased,  the  eastern 
part  of  the  Delta  from  the  Tanitic  branch  of  the 
Nile  to  the  desert  and  the  Red  Sea,  corresponding 
somewhat  to  the  modern  province  of  Sharkieh. 
The  first  rendezvous  was  Rameses,  and  the  next 
station  Succoth.  The  line  of  march  was  thus  at 
first  along  this  valley  Tumilat,  through  which  in 
the  time  of  Seti  I.,  and  before  the  Exodus,  there 
ran,  as  now,  a  sweet  water  canal,  thus  facilitating 
and  explaining  the  movement.  For  by  the  excava- 
tions of  Naville  in  1883  inscriptions  were  found  at 
Tell  el  Maskutah,  which  prove  that  place  to  be  the 
site  of  the  ancient  Pithom  (of  which  more  here- 
after), *and  the  region  in  which  it  lies  to  be  Succoth, 
some  ten  miles  west  of  Lake  Timseh  in  an  air  line. 
The  identification  is  now  generally  accepted  by 
Eg3'ptologists.  Rameses  is  not  yet  known,  but  by 
INI.  Naville  is  conjecturally  found  at  Saft  el  Henneh,^ 
about  twenty-five  miles  further  west ;  although  it  is 
generally  understood  that  the   name  represented  a 

3  The  stronger  rendering,  "turn  back,'  oi  the  R.  V.,  with  Dillinann  and 
Strack,  is  undoubtedly  better  than  the  "turn"  of  the  A.  V.,  though  supported 
by  Knobel  and  DeWette. 

4  Navilles  The  Store-city  of  Pithom,  Egypt  Exploration'Fund. 

5  Naville's  Goshen  and  the  Shrine  of  Saft  el  Heaneh,  Egypt  Exploration 
Fund. 


U  THE  VERA  CI  TV  OF  THE  HEX  A  TE  UCH 

region  as  well  as  a  town,  while  the  rendezvous  of 
such  a  host  could  hardly  have  been  confined  to  a 
single  city.  There  is  nothing  to  determine  exactly 
the  next  station,  Etham,  on  the  edge  of  the  wilder- 
ness. The  line  of  the  modern  Suez  Canal  would  in 
general  mark  the  edge  of  the  desert,  and  the  course 
was  eastward  and  perhaps  somewhat  northerly  on 
the  great  traveled  route  to  Palestine.  But  here 
they  were  directed  to  "turn  back"  (or  about)  and 
encamp  between  Migdol  and  the  sea,  that  is,  west 
of  the  Red  Sea.  The  abrupt  turn  to  the  south, 
and  the  dela}^  thus  caused,  gave  time  for  the  news 
to  reach  Pharaoh  and  for  him  to  overtake  them 
(xiv.  5)- 

Pharaoh's  equipment  with  chariots  for  the  pur- 
suit rests  on  a  sure  historic  basis.  For  in  the  poem 
of  the  Pentaur,  celebrating  the  exploits  of  Rameses 
II.,  the  more  commonly  supposed  monarch  of  the 
oppression,  his  chariots  and  charioteers  are  men- 
tioned a  dozen  times  f  and  the  monuments  show 
both  him  and  his  son  in  their  chariots.''  Even  the 
number  of  the  chariots,  "six  hundred,"  is  less  than 
a  fourth  part  of  the  number  of  chariots  which  the 
same  poem  asserts  to  have  been  encountered  by  him 
in  the  great  battle  with  the  Hittites  on  the  Orontes, 
namely  "twenty-five  hundred,"  and  "as  numerous 
as  the  sand."^  If  these  numbers  of  the  poet  be  re- 
garded as  an  exaggeration,  the  statement  still  goes  to 

6  Brugsch,  History  of  Egypt,  H.,  p.  56  seq. 

7  Erman.  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt,  p.  492.    Wilkinson's  Ancient  Egyptians 
(Birch's  ed.),  HI-,  p.  224. 

8  Brugsch,  II.,  pp.  56,  59,  60. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  55 

show  that  the  chariot  force  of  the  times  was  a  strong 
arm  of  war. 

From  the  halt  on  the  edge  of  the  wilderness  the 
march  was  southward  to  the  place  of  crossing. 
Here  the  correspondence^of  the  narrative  to  the 
localities  is  such  that  at  least  three  different  places 
have  been  selected  by  judicious  observers  as  feasi- 
ble and  as  conforming  more  or  less  closely  to  the 
requirements  of  the  narrative.  The  difficulty  of 
deciding  absolutely  between  them  arises  from  the 
difficulty  of  identifying  with  certainty  the  localities 
specified,  Pi-hahiroth,  Migdol,  Baal-zephon ;  and 
that  difficulty  arises  largely  from  the  fact  that  on 
the  eastern  and  desert  border  of  Egypt  there  has 
not  been  any  continuous  occupancy  and  settlement 
from  ancient  times,  as  in  Palestine,  to  hand  down 
the  names  in  unbroken  succession.  The  three 
points  suggested  are  these :  One  south  of  Lake 
Timsah  near  Serapeum,  advocated  by  Naville, 
Ebers,  Poole,  de  Lesseps  and  others ;  the  one  ad- 
vocated by  Dr.  Dawson  and  others,  between  the 
Bitter  Lakes  and  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  not  far  from 
Geneffe  at  the  terrace  of  Chaloof ;  and  that  main- 
tained by  Robinson  and  held  until  recently  by  many, 
if  not  most,  scholars,  which  finds  it  near  Suez.''  The 
theory  of  a  northern  passage,  not  through  the  Red 
Sea,  but  by  the  Serbonian  Bog,  advocated  by  Schlei- 
den  and  Brugsch  (for  a  time),  was  extinguished  by 
the  discovery  of  Pithom. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  the  present  purpose  to  dis- 

9  See  noteviii.,  Appendix. 


56  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

CUSS  the  respective  merits  of  these  different  views, 
inasmuch  as  each  of  them  claims  to  furnish  an  ex- 
planation of  the  transaction.  Since,  however,  the 
first  two  views  assume  that  the  Gulf  of  Suez  ex- 
tended then  continuously  to  Lake  Timsah,  whereas 
at  the  terrace  of  Chaloof  the  land  rises  twenty-seven 
feet  above  the  sea  level,  and  thirty  feet  at  Sera- 
peum,  and  these  views  suppose  a  different  state  of 
things  from  the  present,  namely  an  elevation  of 
these  localities  since  the  exodus,  and  thus  rest  on  a 
basis  of  speculation,  however  weighty  the  opinion, 
we  will  simply  show  how  the  crossing  at  Suez 
would  accord  with  the  facts  of  the  present  situation. 
It  is  not  important  to  insist  upon  the  identifica- 
tion, proposed  formerly  by  many  scholars,  of  Pi- 
hahiroth  (or  Hahiroth,  Numbers  xxxiii.  8)  with 
Ajroud,  four  hours  northwest  of  Suez,  where  there 
is  a  plain,  a  deep  well  (though  of  bitter  water)  and 
a  fortress ;  nor  of  Migdol  with  Bir  Suweis,two  miles 
from  Suez,  where  are  now  two  wells  of  brackish 
water  and  a  stone  building  of  the  seventh  century ; 
nor  of  Baal-zephon  with  Jebel  Atakah,  although  a 
mountain  3,200  feet  in  height  is  a  conspicuous  land- 
mark. Still  it  is  a  fact  that  whereas  the  Israelites 
were  to  encamp  before  Baal-zephon  by  the  sea, 
here  is  a  large  plain  for  encampment,  about  ten  by 
eleven  miles  in  extent,  having  the  sea  or  gulf  on 
the  east,  and  Jebel  Atakah  obstructing  the  march 
southward.  In  the  gulf  at  this  point  are  (or  were 
before  the  dredging  of  it  for  the  Suez  Canal)  two 
fords,  one  north  of  Suez,  the  other  just  south  of  it. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  57 

both  passable  at  low  tide,  and  now  also,  except 
where  the  canal  channel  has  to  be  crossed  by  boats. 
The  northern  one  was  where  Napoleon  crossed  in 
1799,  and  would  have  been  drowned  on  his  return 
but  for  his  presence  of  mind ;  where  Russeger, 
Niebuhr's  guides, and  Tischendorf's  Arabs  crossed. 
The  southern  one  always  has  been  accounted  safer. 
Extensive  shoals  extend  far  out  in  a  southeasterly 
direction,  and  a  long,  narrov/  sand-bank  reaches 
towards  them  from  the  eastern  shore,  leaving  at  lovv- 
tide  a  small  channel  some  780  feet  wide  and  from 
three  and  a  half  to  five  and  a  half  feet  deep.  But 
at  high  tide  the  width  is  about  three  miles,'"  and 
the  elaborate  map  of  the  Suez  Canal  Company  gives 
the  difference  between  the  highest  and  lowest 
known  seas  as  ten  feet  and  seven  inches.  Here  are 
the  conditions  for  the  safe  crossing  of  the  Israelites 
and  the  drowning  of  the  Egyptians.''  The  state- 
ment of  the  Scripture  narrative  that  the  Lord 
"caused  the  sea  to  go  back  by  a  strong  east  wind 
all  night"  conforms  to  the  fact  mentioned  by  the 
travelers  Wellsted,  Schubert  and  Tischendorf, 
namely,  the  great  effect  produced  on  the  height  of 
the  waters  by  a  long-continued  northeast  or  south- 
east wind  in  connection  with  the  tide.  Now  as  the 
gulf  was  made  "dry  land"  by  the  all-night  blowing 
of  the  "east  (or  northeast)  wind,"  so  also  when  the 
Israelites  "saw  the   Egyptians   dead  upon  the  sea- 

10  These  figures  were  given  to  the  author  by  M.  Mauriac,  engineer  of  the 
Suez  Canal. 

11  One  recent,  writer  (Professor  H.  A.  Harper)  inquires,  "Why  should  it  be 
thought  nece::;sary  that  Pharaoh  and  his  host  descended  a  'steep  bank  into  a 
farful  chasm?'"  If  he  had  visited  the  spot,  he  would  have  seen  no  steeR 
bank  nor  fearful  chasm. 


58  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

shore,"  that  is,  the  eastern  shore,  where  they  then 
were,  we  have  a  casual  hint  of  a  change  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  wind  which  had  forced  the  waters 
back  and  lined  the  eastern  shore  with  the  dead.  A 
variation  of  less  than  ten  feet  and  seven  inches 
would  explain  the  transaction  as  described  in  the 
narrative. 

Dr.  Robinson  makes  a  computation^^  to  show  the 
feasibility  of  the  passage  of  two  millions,  moving 
at  the  rate  of  only  two  miles  an  hour,  within  the 
allotted  time :  a  dry  space  of  half  a  mile  or  more 
would  admit  a  thousand  persons  abreast,  and  a 
column  two  thousand  in  depth,  two  miles  or  more 
from  front  to  rear ;  this  would  require  an  hour  for 
the  entire  column  to  enter  the  channel,  and  two 
hours  more  to  move  over  the  distance  of  three  or 
four  miles,  or  an  hour  and  a  half  for  the  present 
distance  of  three  miles,  making,  on  this  last  suppo- 
sition, two  hours  and  a  half  in  all.  It  may  be  added 
that  if,  on  account  of  the  flocks  and  herds,  we  sup- 
pose the  time  to  be  doubled,  the  interval  between 
sunset  and  sunrise  in  April,  being  about  twelve 
hours,  would  still  allow  ample  time  for  the  safe 
passage  of  Israel,  and,  when  the  waters  were  driven 
back  in  full  volume,  for  the  destruction  of  the  pur- 
suing host.  It  would  undoubtedly  be  a  difficult 
movement  to  arrange  and  execute  with  such  a  great 
company  as  the  Israelites,  but  a  Moses  or  a  Napo- 
leon would  be  capable  of  effecting  it.  The  circum- 
stances conform  to  the  narrative ;  and  similar  rea- 

la  BibUgal  |le3§arQbes,  I.,  p.  84. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  59 

soning  would  apply  if  the  event  took  place  at  either 
of  the  other  places  advocated,  under  the  state  of 
things  supposed.  "Whatever  may  have  been  the  ex- 
act course  of  this  event, "says  Ewald,  "its  historical 
certainty  is  well  established.'"^  The  remarkable 
event  is  celebrated  in  two  commemoration  odes,  as 
they  may  be  called,  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  song 
of  Miriam ;  in  regard  to  the  second  of  which  Dill- 
mann, though  considering  the  first  in  its  present  form 
as  a  subsequent  expansion  of  a  shorter  song  coming 
down  from  Moses'  time,  says  there  can  be  little 
doubt  of  the  high  and  highest  antiquity  of  these 
very  lines,  ^*  and  Kittel  in  his  recent  history  remarks, 
"It  would  be  groundless  skepticism  to  maintain  that 
the  song  is  an  artificial  echo  of  the  later  legends 
concerning  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea."^^ 

After  the  crossing  of  the  sea  there  is  little  liabil- 
ity to  mistake  in  tracing,  in  the  main,  their  journey 
as  far  as  Sinai.  By  whatever  place  the  sea  or  gulf 
was  passed,  whether  at  Serapeum,Chaloof  or  Suez, 
the  springs  now  bearing  the  Arabic  name  Wells 
(or  fountains)  of  Moses,  a  few  miles  southeast  of 
Suez,  could  not  have  failed  to  be  an  important  place 
on  the  march.  Some  of  those  who  favor  the  more 
northerly  crossing  suppose  them  to  be  Elim.  Here 
the  water  which  flows  down  the  sloping  strata  from 
Er  Rahah  is  obstructed  by  the  work  of  countless 
infusoria  cementing  the  sand,  comes  to  the  surface 
in  a  copious  spring  of  disagreeable  taste,  and  can 

13  Geschichte,  I.,  p.  109. 

14  Comment  in  loco. 

15  History  of  the  Hebrews  (translation),  I.,  p.  226. 


60  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

be  reached  along  a  considerable  distance  by  digging. 
The  present  writer  noticed  eight  wells  of  various 
depths,  and  another  traveler  counted  nineteen. 
Also  about  four  miles  north  is  another  very  consid- 
erable fountain,  Ain  Naba,  though  also  of  brackish 
water.  The  Wells  of  Moses  were  important  as  a 
water  supply  for  Suez  before  the  construction  of 
the  sweet  water  canal,  and  in  conjunction  with  the 
other  fountain  must  have  been  equally  important  to 
the  Israelite  host.^^  From  this  point  the  line  of 
march  is  for  a  long  distance  unmistakable,  since  it 
must  lie  between  the  sea  on  the  west  and  the  high, 
unbroken  and  impassable  range  of  Er  Rahah,  eight 
or  ten  miles  to  the  east. 

It  is  doubtful  whether,  with  Robinson  and  others, 
we  should  identify  the  bitter  fountain  of  Marah  with 
the  present  Ain  Hawwarah,  although  this  is  a  very 
brackish  but  scanty  fountain  always  avoided  by  the 
Arabs  (says  Mr.  Holland;,  and  the  distance  would 
correspond  well  with  three  days'  journey  of  some 
twelve  miles  each,  leisurely  taken  because  free 
from  danger  and  pressure.  It  is  also  true  that  in 
all  that  distance  no  water  is  to  be  found,  except  at 
Ain  Berwad,  six  miks  from  the  traveled  route, 
and  that  a  small  brackish  pool  or  fountain  lying 
seven  feet  below  the  surface,  about  nine  feet  in  di- 
ameter and  two  and  a  half  feet  in  depth,  so  obscure 
that  travelers  do  not  know  of  it.^^ 

16  Prof.  H.A.  Harper  finds  here  the  bitter  Marah— somewhat  singularly, 
inasmuch  as  while  he  calls  the  water  somewhat  brackish,  he  mentions  that 
formerly  Suez  depended  chiefly  for  its  supply  of  sweet  water  upon  Ayun 
Musa. 

17  The  writer  learned  of  it  through  his  Arabs,  and  visited  it, 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  61 

The  next  station  was  Elim,  where  were  three 
score  and  ten  pahn  trees  and  twelve  fountains  of 
water.  This  station  is  now  almost  universally  rec- 
ognized as  Wady  Gharandel,  about  five  miles  beyond 
Hawwarah.  Here  are  springs  which  form  a  run- 
ning stream,  and  at  length  considerable  pools,  fre- 
quented by  wild  ducks  and  other  birds,  in  which 
also  Palmer  found  a  bathing  place.  Randall  saw 
marks  of  freshets  several  feet  high,  as  indicated  on 
the  tamarisk  shrubs.  Water  is  found  here  through 
the  year,  and,  though  varying  in  quality,  so  good 
that  the  traveler's  water  supply  is  here  replenished. 
It  was  so  on  the  journey  of  the  present  writer.  He 
also  counted  in  1874  thirty  palm  trees  and  about 
ten  old  stumps,  several  of  which  showed  marks  of 
the  fires  kindled  by  the  reckless  Arabs,  who  are 
rapidly  destroying  the  trees  of  the  Sinaitic  penin- 
sula. In  1855  Bonar  found  more  than  eighty  palm 
trees.  The  soil  is  damp  among  them,  and  appar- 
ently water  could  be  found  by  digging. 

They  removed  from  Elim  and  encamped  by  the 
sea.  This  encampment  is  unmistakable  and  is 
therefore  almost  universally  agreed  upon.  A  short 
day's  journey  ending  with  a  turn  to  the  right, 
through  Wady  Tayibeh,  the  only  passable  road  to 
the  sea,  would  bring  them  to  a  sandy  plain  extend- 
ing four  or  five  miles  along  the  shore,  shut  in  by  a 
high  promontory  on  the  north,  a  range  of  cliffs  on 
the  east,  and  a  rocky  wall  approaching  quite  close 
to  the  shore  on  the   south.     It  affords  room  for  a 


62  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

great  camp,  and  is  the  only  place  for  many  miles 
that  does  so. 

From  thence  they  proceeded  to  the  wilderness  of 
Sin,  where  the  people  became  rebellious  under  their 
hardships.  Next  along  the  shore  after  passing  the 
rock-wall  already  mentioned  is  the  arid  and  heated 
plain  of  El  Murkha,  where  on  the  nth  of  Febru- 
ary, 1874,  ^^  thermometer  registered  96  degrees 
Fahrenheit. ^^  If  here  is  the  wilderness  of  Sin,  it 
accounts  for  the  murmuring.  It  was  here  also  that 
the  supply  of  manna  commenced ;  and  here  occurs 
(Ex.  xvi.  13)  the  first  mention  of  quails  in  the 
camp.  Here  W.  H.  Bartlett  saw  "numerous 
quails.'"^ 

Before  reaching  Sinai  four  other  stations  are 
mentioned  which,  with  the  exception  of  Rephidim, 
there  are  no  means  of  identifying  with  confidence, 
although  there  have  been  conjectures.  There  were 
no  permanent  settlements  to  fix  the  names.  It 
would  not  have  been  difficult  for  them  to  accom- 
plish in  those  five  days  what  the  modern  traveler, 
moving  at  the  rate  of  two  and  three-quarter  miles 
an  hour,  does  in  three  days.  Their  distress  for 
water  after  leaving  the  wilderness  of  Sin,  requir- 
ing a  special  interposition  to  furnish  it,  accords  with 
the  fact  that  no  water  is  to  be  found  to-day  on  that 
route  till  the  oasis  in  Feiran  is  reached.  We  will 
not  insist  on  the  tradition  which  Palmer  found 
among  the  Arabs,  that  a  certain  huge  rock  (Hesy 
el   Khattatin),    not   far   from  the   entrance  to  the 

18  This  was  the  writer's  experience. 

19  Bartlett's  Forty  Days  in  the  Desert,  p.  40, 


FROM  THE  EXODUSy  TO  THE  CONQUEST  63 

oasis,  and  surrounded  by  heaps  of  pebbles,  is  the 
scene  of  miraculous  supply.  But  the  oasis  itself, 
far  the  finest  in  the  peninsula,  several  miles  in 
length  and  watered  a  part  of  the  distance  by  a 
copious  stream,  is  not  only  too  remarkable  a  spot 
to  have  been  neglected  on  the  march,  but  the  strug- 
gle for  its  possession  v^ould  fully  account  for  the 
battle  with  the  Amalekites.  One  of  the  high  hills 
(Tahuneh)  on  the  north  side  of  the  western  en- 
trance of  the  oasis,  on  which  the  ruins  of  a  church 
and  of  several  chapels  bear  witness  to  an  ancient 
notion  of  special  sanctity,  and  which  has  a  (late) 
tradition  that  it  was  the  scene  of  Moses'  prayer, 
would  at  all  events  be  in  accordance  with  the  nar- 
rative, since  it  overlooks  the  valley.  The  objection 
that  this  supposed  Rephidim  is  too  far  from  Sinai 
for  a  day's  march  of  the  great  host  by  the  easier  of 
two  routes,  is  met  by  Professor  Palmer  with  the 
suggestion  that  Moses  and  his  chief  elders  may 
have  taken  the  shorter  and  harder  route  (over  Nagb 
Hawa),  leaving  the  host  to  come  by  the  longer  and 
easier  way. 

It  should  also  be  said  that  when  the  host  left  the 
encampment  (or  before  arriving  there),  it  was  prac- 
ticable for  them  to  divide,  part  of  them  taking  the 
northern  route  by  Wady  Hamr,  and  the  remainder 
this  southern  route ;  and  that  the  latter  allows  a  di- 
version through  a  part  of  the  route  by  Wady  Shel- 
lal ;  but  the  wagons  (Num.  vii.  3,  7,  8)  could  have 
been  drawn  only  down  along  the  coast  of  the  sea, 
then  up  nearly  at  right  angles  through  Wady  Feiran. 


64  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

There  the  way  is  perfectly  practicable  through  the 
whole  distance,  as  the  narrative  requires.^" 

According  to  the  record  about  eleven  months 
were  spent  at  Sinai,  the  place  of  the  law-giving.  ^^ 
The  vicinity  of  Jebel  Musa  (the  Mount  of  Moses) 
singularly  corresponds  to  all  the  requirements  of 
the  narrative.  The  long  plain  of  Er  Rahah,  two 
miles  long  and  half  a  mile  broad,  slopes  gradually 
towards  the  northern  peak,  Sufsafeh,  yielding  space 
enough  for  two  million  persons, ^^  each  having  a 
square  yard  to  stand  upon  in  sight  of  the  mountain, 
besides  additional  room  in  the  side  valleys,  Leja 
and  Ed  Deir.  The  mountain  rises  abruptly  like  a 
wall  from  the  foot  of  this  plain,  so  that  it  "might 
be  touched"  (Heb.  xii.  i8),  and  bounds  could  be 
"set  about"  it  (Ex.  xix.  23).  The  water  supply 
for  the  encampment  is  also  noticeable,  there  being 
running  streams  in  four  of  the  neighboring  valleys, 
one  of  them  near  the  very  foot  of  Sufsafeh,  into 
which  the  relics  of  the  golden  calf  could  have  been 
cast ;  not  to  mention  some  five  wells  now  existing, 
indicating  the  abundance  of  water  in  the  vicinity. 
In  the  neighboring  valleys  (e.  g.  Mukalifeh  and 
Nukhf)  vegetation  is  still  to  be  found,  ^'^  which  there 

20  These  several  routes  were  explored  by  the  writer,  the  northern,  the 
southern  with  its  divisions,  besides  followinp;  Wady  Hibrau, which  some  have 
suggested  without  good  reason.  At  the  entrance  of  Wady  Feiran  from  the 
coast  he  had  the  surprise  of  seeing  the  tracks  of  a  wagon,  probably  en  the 
way  to  Tor. 

21  See  note  ix.,  Appendix. 

22  By  actual  measurements  by  Capt.  Palmer  of  the  Ordnance  Survey, 
Palmer's  Desert  of  the  Exodus,  p.  117. 

23  The  writer  saw  a  large  flock  of  goats  in  Wady  Sebaijeh.  In  Wady 
Nukhf,  three  hours  distant,  and  about  five  miles  long  and  betv/ecn  one  and 
two  miles  broad  where  we  crossed  it— there  was  there, as  estimated  by  one  of 
the  company,  who  was  a  farmer's  son,  vegetation  enough  for  a  thousand 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  65 

is  good  reason  to  believe  may  have  been  more 
abundant  for  the  cattle  then  than  for  the  flocks  of 
the  Arabs  now.  A  remarkable  correspondence  is 
found  here  to  the  statement  that  as  Moses  descended 
from  the  mountain  he  heard  the  noise  of  the  shout- 
ing worshipers  of  the  golden  calf  before  seeing 
them  (Ex.  xiii.  i8).  Now  there  is  a  steep,  almost 
perpendicular,  descent  on  the  north  side  through 
the  ravine  of  Sikket  Shoeib,  where  the  traveler  is 
so  shut  in  that  he  can  hear  the  sound  from  a  camp 
at  the  traditional  "  Hill  of  Aaron"  some  time  before 
he  comes  in  sight  of  it.  Professor  Palmer  men- 
tions having  frequently  had  this  experience.^* 

Beyond  Sinai,  by  reason  of  the  loss  of  names  in 
an  uninhabited  region,  and  the  absence  of  specified 
landmarks,  the  station  before  reaching  Kadesh- 
barnea  cannot  be  confidently  located.  Kadesh-bar- 
nea  is  now  generally  considered  to  be  at  Ain  Gadiz, 
as  discovered  by  Rowland  and  Williams,  partly 
verified  by  Palmer,  and  confirmed  by  H.  C.  Trum- 
bull, though  still  requiring  more  deliberate  exami- 
nation and  more  exact  description.'^^  A  general 
correspondence  even  here,  at  least  as  to  the  dis- 
tances traveled,  can  be  indicated.  Whereas  in  Deut. 
i.  2  we  read  that  "there  are  eleven  days'  journey 
from  Horeb  by  way  of  Mount  Seir  unto  Kadesh- 
barnea,-'  Professor  Palmer  thinks  that  this  notice 

cattle  three  months,  (From  Egypt  to  Palestine,  pp.  285,  286.)  We  also  saw 
goats  among  the  rocks,  as  it  seemed,  though  really  in  small  wadies,  before 
reaching  Sinai. 

24  The  author  descended  through  the  ravine,  but  his  camp  was  at  a  dis- 
tance, near  the  Convent. 

25  See  Appendix,  note  x. 


88  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

in  connection  with  other  indications  "  brings  us  into 
the  region  of  absolute  certainty,"  inasmuch  as  a 
comparison  of  the  list  of  stations  given  in  Numbers 
xxxiii.,  and  the  hints  in  regard  to  it,  together  with 
the  places  and  distances  of  the  Peutinger  tables, 
will  show  very  closely  that  number  of  moderate 
days'  marches.  Whether  or  not  his  suggested 
identifications  are  valid,  the  general  correspondence 
is  sufficient  for  our  purpose.  ^^ 

From  Kadesh-barnea  the  rebellious  portion  of 
the  host  made  their  ill-fated  expedition  to  the  hill 
region  and  were  routed  unto  Zephath  or  Hormah, 
which  may  perhaps  be  found  in  Sebaita  (though 
not  certainly),  where  are  now  extensive  ruins,  and 
about  three  miles  and  a  half  to  the  north  traces  of 
a  ruined  fort  on  a  hill  El  Meshrifeh. 

From  this  time,  as  has  been  suggested  by  several 
writers,  we  may  reasonably  suppose  the  people  have 
to  spread  themselves  out  over  the  more  fertile  por- 
tions of  the  peninsula,  and  more  especially  the 
southern  parts  of  the  Negeb  or  south  countr}- ,  and 
wherever  the  modern  Arabs  find  their  livelihood. 
One  thing,  however,  is  conspicuously  noticeable  and 
consistent,  that  although  interpositions  for  the  sup- 
ply of  water  are  mentioned  but  in  a  few  instances, 
the  food  supply  of  the  manna  was  constant  to  the 
end.  For  while  it  is  evident  to  every  intelligent 
observer  that  the  fertility  of  the  Sinaitic  peninsula 
has  been  and  is  continually  diminished  through  the 
wanton  destruction  of  its  trees  by  the  modern  Arabs, 

26  See  note  xi.,  Appendix. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  67 

all  the  more  rapidly  since  the  construction  of  the 
modern  canal  and  railway  has  furnished  a  market 
for  their  charcoal/^  it  is  equally  evident  that  no  large 
body  of  people  could  be  wholly  supplied  with  food 
for  any  great  length  of  time  by  the  natural  resources 
of  the  country ;  and  it  must  be  frankly  said  that 
the  supernatural  interposition  is  indispensable  to 
the  history.  But  water  is  found  not  only  at  inter- 
vals in  the  peninsula,  but  in  numerous  places  around 
the  edges  of  the  desert  of  Et  Tih,'-^^  and  in  the  south 
country,  besides  the  pools  that  remain  or  may  be 
created  in  the  wadies  after  the  rains,  and  possible 
reservoirs  and  wells,  as  now  at  Nakhl  in  the  heart 
of  the  desert.  In  these  regions  the  Arabs  of  seven 
tribes  now  sustain  their  sheep,  goats  and  camels. 
In  the  final  departure  from  Kadesh,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  been  their  headquarters,  their  march 
was  not  directly  north  through  the  strongholds  of 
the  Amorite  country,  but  by  way  of  the  Red  Sea, 
east  of  the  Arabah  (or  Ghor),  through  Edom  and 
Moab.  Here,  after  passing  Jebel  Harun  (Mount 
Aaron),  4,000  feet  high,  and  held  sacred  by  the 
native  as  the  supposed  scene  of  Aaron's  death,  we 
confidently  strike  their  line  of  march  at  Ar  (now 
Rabba)  of  Moab,  Aroer  (Arair),  Dibon  (Diban), 
Heshbon  (Hesban),  not  to  mention  conjectural  sites. 
This  part  of  the  way  would  undoubtedly  correspond 
to  what  is  now  the  great  caravan   route  from  Da- 

27  It  is  a  common  experience  of  travelers,  as  of  the  author,  to  encounter 
companies  of  Arabs,  their  camels  loaded  with  charcoal. 

28  Nearly  thirty  places  can  be  specified  on  or  around  this  desert  where 
water  can  be  found,  in  springs,  streams,  pools,  wells,  or  just  beneath  the  sur- 
face.   See  Bartlett's  From  Egypt  to  Palestine,  p.  318  seq. 


68  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

mascus  to  Mecca.  From  the  commanding  peak 
above  Ain  Minyeh,  Balaam  could  see  "  Israel  dwell- 
ing according  to  their  tribes"  (Num.  xiv.  2),  "in 
the  plains  of  Moab  on  this  side  Jordan  by  Jericho" 
(Num.  xxii.  i) ;  and  from  Pisgah  (Ras  Siaghah), 
west  of  Nebo  (Jebel  Neba)  or  that  vicinity,  Moses 
could  do  as  he  was  directed  (Deut.  iii.  27),  and  see 
"all  the  land  of  Gilead  and  Dan,  and  all  Naphtali, 
and  all  the  land  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  and  all 
the  land  of  Judah  unto  the  utmost  sea,  and  the  south, 
and  the  plain  of  Jericho,  the  city  of  palm  trees,  unto 
Zoar" — as  Tristram  testifies  from  his  personal  ex- 
perience.^^ Conder  also  suggests  that  in  the  weird 
and  almost  inaccessible  gorge,  Zerka  Main,  1,700 
feet  deep,  may  be  recognized  the  valley  in  the  land 
of  Moab  where  Moses  was  buried  (Num.  xxxiv. 
6),  and  "no  man  knoweth  of  his  sepulchre.'"" 

Thus  the  account  of  this  march  of  Israel,  which 
is  also  summarized  in  Deuteronomy,  bears  every 
mark  of  a  veritable  narrative  by  a  participant,  and 
is  not  reasonably  supposable  to  have  been  so  accur- 
ately invented  in  all  these  details  by  some  hypothet- 
ical writer  many  hundred  years  later. 

Here  comes  in  another  confirmation  and  check, 
as  it  might  be  called.  It  is  found  (Num.  xxxiii.) 
in  the  separate  enumeration  of  forty-two  encamp- 
ments written  down,  as  the  text  declares,  by  Moses 
at  command  of  God.  It  is  a  bald  enumeration  with- 
out comment,  except  in  three  instances  where  there 

29  Tristram,  Land  of  Israel,  pp.  540-3;  Conder,  Heth  and  Moab,  p.  133  seq. 
Conder  suggests  to  read  "towards"  Dan  and  the  utmost  sea,  instead  of 
"unto." 

30  Heth  and  Moab,  p   151. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  69 

is  a  reference  to  some  attendant  fact,  of  which 
Aaron's  death  is  the  most  prominent.  It  carries 
the  aspect  both  of  elaborate  care  and  of  antiquity. 
For  while  it  includes  the  stations  described  in  the 
narrative  (as  far  as  Moab),  it  contains  others  that 
not  only  cannot  now  be  identified,  but  that  do  not 
appear  elsewhere  in  the  Hexateuch,  apparently  lost 
out  of  knowledge.  Now  even  if  this  list  of  stations 
stood  unsupported  by  the  narrative,  what  conceiv- 
able inducement  could  a  writer  a  thousand  years 
later''  have  to  take  the  pains  and  run  the  risk  of 
manufacturing  such  a  barren  catalogue,  and  espe- 
cially to  introduce  these  aimless  additions  to  the  ex- 
isting account  ?  The  question  staggers  even  the 
audacity  and  credulity  of  Wellhausen,  who  admits 
that  "it  is  less  easy  to  account  on  the  theory  of 
pure  fiction  for  the  numerous  names  somewhat  ar- 
ranged like  a  catalogue,"  and  that  "the  forty  places 
really  existed  in  the  region."  But  he  calmly  in- 
quires, "Was  it  such  a  diflScult  matter  to  find  out 
forty  definite  stations  in  the  wilderness  for  the  forty 
years'  wandering?"  And  he  carefully  changes  the 
forty-two  to  the  round  number  "  forty. ' "'  This  style 
of  argument  is  quite  worthy  of  Wellhausen.  But 
it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  from  a  writer  like  Dr. 
Driver  to  dismiss  the  great  and  impressive  mass  of 
this  kind  of  evidence,  now  becoming  fully  recog- 
nized by  all  sober  and  judicious  investigators,  with 
the  cool  remark,  "  It  is  an  error  to  suppose,  as  seems 
sometimes  to  be  done,  that  topographical  explora- 

31  It  is  ascribed  in  Kautzsch  to  p. 

32  History  of  Israel,  p.  350- 


70  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

tion,  or  the  testhnony  of  inscriptions^  supplies  a  refu- 
tation of  critical  conclusions  concerning  the  Old 
Testament.  "^^ 

And  here  the  analysts  multiply  the  number  of 
witnesses  to  the  truth  of  the  list.  For  while  care- 
fully going  through  the  narrative  itself  to  justify  the 
ascriptions  of  the  list  to  a  late  ("priest")  writer,  by 
excluding  from  it  here  and  there  a  sentence  (those 
which  mention  the  several  removals),  yet  in  most 
instances  the  adjacent  portion  confirms  the  state- 
ment in  regard  to  the  place,  and  that  too  by  passages 
ascribed  by  the  same  analysts  to  two  or  three  other 
older  writers  ;^^  so  that  according  to  their  own  stand- 
ard we  have  an  accumulation  of  testimonies. 

If  still  additional  corroborations  of  this  plain  nar- 
rative w^ere  needed,  they  may  be  found  in  many 
allusions  to  attendant  circumstances  of  the  journey. 
The  shittim  wood  (acacia,  seyal),  of  which  the 
tabernacle  was  constructed,  is  the  only  timber  wood 
of  any  size  in  the  Sinaitic  peninsula,  although  even 
in  very  early  times  almost  extinct  in  Egypt^^  proper, 
and  not  common  in  Palestine.  It  may  be  called 
characteristic  of  the  Sinaitic  peninsula,  and  is  a 
hard,  close-grained  wood  of  an  orange-brown  color, 
fitted  for  fine  cabinet  work.  Rev.  D.  A.  Randall 
in  his  book  of  travels,  however,  mentions  that  he 
saw  no  acacia  of  sufficient  size  for  the  boards  of 
the  tabernacle,  namely,  ten  cubits  long  by  one  and 

33  Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament,  p.  xiii. 

34  J.  E,  JE,  R. 

35  Erman's  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt,  p.  451. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  71 

a  half  wide.^^  But  notwithstanding  the  destruction 
of  these  trees  (and  the  retem)  for  many  years  by 
the  Arabs  for  charcoal,  which  they  transport  to 
Suez,  the  present  writer  in  1874  ^^^  ^^  Wady  Saal 
acacias  two  feet  in  diameter;  and  Mr.  Holland 
found  specimens  that  were  nine  feet  in  circumfer- 
ence. If,  as  Tristram  suggests,  the  burning  bush 
(Hebrew  "seneh")  was  a  smaller  species  of  acacia, 
that  also  is  occasionally  found  The  palm  is  once 
mentioned,  at  Elim.  It  is  also  found  at  the  oasis  of 
Feiran,  and  usually  only  at  places  where  there  is  or 
can  be  found  some  sign  of  water.  The  station 
"Rithmah,"  it  is  suggested  by  Robinson,  Stanley, 
Tristram  and  others,  may  derive  its  name  from  the 
abundance  of  the  retem,  another  desert  tree  of  fre- 
quent occurrence.  These,  or  three  of  them,  are 
the  trees  most  peculiar  to  their  line  of  march.  The 
tamarisk  or  tarfa,  with  its  slender  roots  running 
sometimes  thirty  feet  along  under  the  barren  surface 
(as  the  writer  saw),  is  occasionally  met  with,  but 
not  mentioned.  The  monks  of  Sinai  gather  a 
honey-like  substance  from  its  branches,  which  they 
sell  to  the  traveler  at  the  rate  of  two  francs  for 
about  three  ounces,  and  which  even  Ritter  ventured 
to  suppose  might  be  the  manna  of  the  Israelites. 
The  impossibility  of  the  supposition  is  proved, 
among  other  reasons,  by  the  fact  that,  as  Stanley^^ 
mentions,  the  quantity  at  present  produced  would 
be  sufficient  only  to  support  one  man  six  months ; 
and  Schubert  declares  that  the  entire  amount  col- 

36  p.  274.  37  Sinai  an4  Palestine,  p.  a8. 


72  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

lected  in  most  productive  years  is  hardly  six  hun- 
dred-weight, and  in  other  years  scarcely  one-third 
of  that  amount ;  and  that  the  price  it  brought  in 
Cairo  when  he  wrote  was  sixty  Spanish  dollars  for 
less  than  five  pounds.  ^^  The  narrative  makes  no 
mention  of  it. 

Of  the  fauna  of  the  desert  actually  encountered, 
the  narrative  mentions  only  quails  and  fiery  ser- 
pents. The  account  of  the  quails  (Num.  xi.  31,32)  is 
in  singular  accordance  with  facts  known  concerning 
the  region.  ^^  The  bird  is  encountered  by  travelers 
in  the  peninsula  (e.  g.  Randall  and  W.  H.  Bartlett). 
It  is  abundant  in  north  Africa,^"  flies  thence  in  great 
flocks  over  the  Arabian  desert,  holding  its  way, 
especially  when  fatigued,  just  above  the  ground 
and  within  reach,  and  when  the  flock  alights,  they 
are  so  exhausted  that  they  may  easily  be  captured 
or  killed.  They  usually  arrive  at  night,  helpless 
till  they  are  rested,  sometimes  two  days,  and  then 
fly  on.  In  this  particular  case  they  would  seem  to 
have  come  by  night ;  for  the  people  gathered  them 
all  day,  all  night,  and  all  the  next  day.  And  their 
flight*^  (not  their  accumulation)  was  two  cubits  above 
the  ground,  or  breast  high.  It  was  at  Kibroth 
Hattaavah,*^  opposite  to  a  narrow  part  of  the  Gulf  of 
Suez,  these  birds  being  accustomed,  on  account  of 

38  Schubert,  Reise,  Vol.  II.,  p.  347. 

39  Tristram  gives  a  full  statement,  Natural  History  of  the  Bible,  pp. 
asi,  232- 

40  McCoan's  Egypt,  p.  326. 

41  So  Knobel,  Dillmann,  Strack,  Speaker's  Commentary. 

4a  Near  this  place  both  Schubert  and  Stanley  saw  immense  flocks  of  birds 
flying  over.  "The  sky  was  literally  darkened,"  says  Stanley,"by  innumerabla 
birds."    But  in  this  case  they  were  cranes. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  73 

their  weak  flight,  to  seek  the  shortest  passage  and 
halt  where  they  can.  It  was  in  the  spring  also, 
when  they  take  their  northward  flight  from  Africa. 
The  people  spread  them  all  abroad  about  the  camp 
(verse  32)  to  dry,  as  Herodotus  says  the  Egyptians 
were  in  the  habit  of  doing.  *^  Here  all  is  exactly 
true  to  the  life,  and  is  a  description  made  upon  the 
spot. 

The  only  reference  to  the  serpent  is  after  leaving 
Mount  Hor  (Num  xxi.  6,  8),  to  the  fiery  serpent, 
or  possibly  burning  serpent,  that  is,  producing  burn- 
ing heat  in  the  body.**  Tristram  found  four  species 
of  venomous  serpents  in  and  around  Palestine ; 
Palmer  speaks  of  them  in  the  Peninsula  f  and 
Schubert  saw  between  Akabah  and  Sinai  a  poison- 
ous serpent  with  fiery  spots. 

From  the  list  of  clean  and  unclean  animals  (Lev. 
xi.)  nothing  can  be  certainly  inferred  in  this  con- 
nection, although  many  if  not  all  the  animals  are  to 
be  seen  in  the  region  traversed.  According  to  Tris- 
tram, however,  at  least  five  or  six  of  these  species 
never  lived  in  the  Nile  valley  nor  in  wooded  and 
hilly  Palestine.*^  If  he  is  correct,  this  would  be  a 
special  mark  of  the  desert  journey.  He  also  has 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  all  the  different  an- 
telopes are  mentioned  in  Deuteronomy  among  the 
clean  beasts,  but  not  in  Leviticus ;  and  suggests  as 
an  explanation  that  when  the  laws  were  announced 

43  Herodotus,  ii.,  77.  See  also  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  Vol.  II.,  p.  log.note. 

44  Knobel,  Dillmann,  Strack. 

45  The  Desert  of  the  Exodus,  p.  99. 

46  Cited  by  Driver,  Deuteronomy,  p.  160,  note. 


74  THE  VERA  CITY  OF  THE  HEX  A  TE  UCH 

immediately  after  the  exodus  they  would  be  strange 
to  the  Israelites,  but  after  thirty-nine  years  had 
been  passed  in  their  haunts  they  would  be  familiar 
to  them  all/' 

Again,  the  singular  collection  of  brief  and  unre- 
lated facts  of  legislation  in  the  Mosaic  code,  such 
as  is  found  in  Leviticus  xix.,  strongly  mark  them 
as  commands  and  prohibitions  growing  out  of  the 
occasions  and  the  time,  and  not  the  fabrication  of 
late  system-makers.  This  chapter  is  part  of  what 
is  designated  by  German  scholars  "the  Code  of 
Holiness,"  and  is  ascribed  by  them  to  the  priests 
during  the  exile.  But  the  priests,  being  then  free 
from  the  duties  of  the  temple  and  the  altar,  had 
abundant  leisure  to  frame  a  systematic  code,  ar- 
ranged in  an  orderly  manner.  But  Dr.  Henry  Hay- 
man  has  minutely  shown  not  only  the  lack  of  coher- 
ence in  this  one  chapter,  but  much  of  the  same  char- 
acteristic pervading  the  whole  so-called  Code  (Lev. 
xvii.-xxv.).  "To  call  it  the  Priests'  Code  was  not 
a  happy  thought  of  the  critics,  codification  being 
precisely  the  element  which  it  does  7iot  present." 
Nor  is  this  quality  confined  to  the  Priests'  Code, 
but  extends  more  or  less  to  the  whole  legislation ; 
"the  treatment  by  repetitions, digressions,  dismem- 
berment and  insertions,  being  not  so  much  the  ex- 
ception as  the  rule,  gives  the  Mosaic  legislation  the 
interspersed  and  fragmentary  character  of  a  painted 
window."*^    The  only   reasonable   explanation   is, 

47  The  City  and  the  Land,  p.  80. 

4$  The  Independent,  April  28,  1892.    See  note  sU. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  75 

not  that  this  was  the  deliberate  composition  of  sys- 
tem-makers, but  that  the  legislation  sprang  from 
the  occasions,  and  perhaps  was  sometimes  diverted 
by  them ;  and  that  its  sacred  authority  was  so  fully 
recognized  by  the  scribes  of  the  law  in  later  times 
that  they  did  not  presume  to  change  the  order  for 
a  better  arrangement.  Sometimes  we  can  seem  to 
recognize  the  occasion.  Blunt  called  attention  to 
an  ancient  tradition  that  the  prohibition  of  wine  and 
strong  drink  to  the  priests  when  they  went  into  the 
tabernacle,  immediately  following  the  offense  of 
the  priests  Nadab  and  Abihu,  may  naturally  ex- 
plain the  cause  of  that  offense.  It  has  also  been 
noticed  that  the  direction  to  make  themselves 
fringes  to  cause  them  to  remember  the  command- 
ments of  the  Lord  (Num.  xv.  38,39)  immediately  fol- 
lows the  punishment  of  the  man  who  violated  the 
great  law  to  "remember  the  Sabbath  Day  to  keep 
it  holy." 

During  the  thirty-eight  years'  wandering  but  two 
events  are  recorded.  This  fact,  sometimes  alleged 
as  incompatible  with  so  long  a  lapse  of  time,  is  in 
harmony  with  the  plan  of  the  narrative:  "The 
host  of  Israel,"  says  Edersheim,  "being  doomed  to 
judgment,  ceased  to  be  the  subject  of  sacred  his- 
tory, while  the  rising  generation,  in  whom  the  life 
and  hope  of  Israel  now  centered,  had  as  yet  no  his- 
tory of  their  own."'^  The  two  events  which  are 
recorded  were  so  momentous  in  their  bearing  on 
the  maintenance  of  the  decalogue  and  the  divinely 

49  Edersheim's  The  Exodus  and  the  Wandering,  p.  173. 


76  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

established  polity  as  to  be  specially  made  a  perma- 
nent warning.  They  are  records  of  the  summary 
punishments  for  daring  disobedience,  namely,  the 
violation  of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  rebellion  of  Korah 
and  his  associates  (Num.  xvi).  And  it  is  recorded 
that  Korah,  Dathan  and  Abiram  were  joined  by 
two  sons  of  Reuben,  and  that  250  men  of  renown 
were  led  away  by  them.  The  fact  that  sons  of 
Reuben  should  have  united  with  Korah  and  his  as- 
sociates (of  the  family  of  Kohath)  has  been  natur- 
ally and  shrewdly  accounted  for  by  Blunt,  ^°  by  the 
proximity  of  their  encampment  to  that  of  the  Reu- 
benites,  both  being  on  the  south  side  of  the  taber- 
nacle (Num.  iii.  29 ;  ii.  10) ;  to  which  Edersheim 
adds  that  Reuben,  being  the  first-born,  naturally 
had  a  grievance  against  the  exaltation  of  Aaron  and 
Moses  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  above  all  the  congrega- 
tion (xvi.  3). 

In  the  same  line  of  indications  of  contemporane- 
ous facts  and  reality  are  the  exhaustively  (some 
would  say  wearisomely)  minute  directions  for  the 
construction,  furnishing,  care  and  conveyance  of 
the  tabernacle.  It  occupies  not  far  from  150  verses 
in  the  original  instructions  (Ex.  xxv.,  seq.)  Then 
comes  a  briefer  recapitulation  by  Moses  to  the  con- 
gregation, in  thirty  verses,  preceded  by  a  caution 
that  no  work  shall  be  done,  not  even  the  kindling 
of  a  fire,  on  the  Sabbath,  and  followed  by  four  and  a 
half  chapters  (xxxvi.,  seq.)  of  an  equalty  minute  and 
business-like   statement  of  the  accomplishment  of 

50  Blunt's  Undesigned  Coincidences,  p.  84. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  77 

the  work.  This  last  gives  the  names  of  the  two 
master  workmen,  Bezaleel  and  Aholiab,  their  par- 
entage and  tribe,  the  facts  of  their  being  aided  by 
every  wise-hearted  man  and  supplied  with  certain 
specified  contributions  of  the  congregation,  the 
spinning  of  fine  linen  and  goats'  hair  by  the  women, 
and  the  special  gift  of  precious  stones  by  the  rulers. 
Where  in  classic  literature  is  there  to  be  found  any- 
thing like  it  in  fullness  of  detail  and  reality  of  ap- 
pearance? Caesar's  bridge  over  the  Rhine  is 
described  by  him  in  twenty  lines.  It  is  paralleled 
only  by  the  plans  and  specifications  of  a  modern 
architect,  and,  but  for  the  inability  to  interpret  all 
the  ancient  technical  terms,  might  be  very  closely 
reconstructed.  Indeed  the  doubt  hanging  over  the 
meaning  of  some  of  the  terms  long  before  the 
Christian  Era,  as  obsolete  terms,  indicates  the  an- 
tiquity of  the  directions ;  as  where  the  Septuagint 
and  the  two  other  Greek  versions  unquestionably 
mistranslate  the  words  wrongly  rendered  "badgers' 
skins"  in  the  English  version;  and  modern  exposi- 
tors are  in  doubt,  the  revised  version  giving  the  alter- 
native of  seal  skins  or  porpoise  skins.  Still  further, 
the  time  occupied  in  the  work,  some  nine  months, 
is  in  keeping  with  its  elaborateness. 

Now  as  an  actual  record  of  a  transaction  of  the 
times,  a  transaction  of  sacred  and  central  significance 
to  the  chosen  people,  this  singular  minuteness  and 
voluminousness  of  detail  is  perfectly  accounted  for ; 
but  as  an  alleged  fabrication  of  after  ages  in  regard 
to  a  fictitious  affair  a  thousand  years  obsolete,  it  in- 


78  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

volves  the  supposition  of  a  stolid  and  aimless  indus- 
try and  a  laborious  and  superfluous  trifling  not 
credible  in  priest  or  layman. 

This  is  not  all.  Such  a  specification  of  details 
involves  an  amount  of  accurate  knowledge  of  his- 
toric facts  not  supposable,  yes,  not  possible,  in  any 
late  writer  of  fiction.  In  fact,  in  the  earlier  part  of 
the  present  century  such  scholars,  not  merely  as 
Von  Bohlen  and  Vater,  but  even  De  Wette,  could 
declare  that  the  construction  of  the  tabernacle  and 
the  priests'  garments  implied  a  cultivation  of  the 
arts  and  an  abundance  of  costly  materials  which  we 
could  not  expect  of  the  Israelites  when  they  left 
Egypt,  and  that  the  whole  description  of  the  taber- 
nacle therefore  belongs,  not  to  history,  but  to  fiction. 
This  bold  statement  now  shows  the  impossibility  of 
its  being  a  fiction.  It  was  in  their  day  necessary 
even  to  argue  the  case  with  the  most  learned  men 
that  the  art  of  writing  was  practiced  so  early  as  the 
exodus.  It  is  undoubtedly  safe  to  say  that  from 
before  the  time  of  Ezra  the  priest  till  well  on  in  the 
present  century  no  human  being  could  have  ven- 
tured on  such  a  detailed  account  of  the  materials 
and  processes  without  blundering  at  every  turn. 
For,  as  the  reader  will  find  by  referring  to  the  nar- 
rative, we  are  told  there  of  men  and  women  bring- 
ing for  the  structure  brooches  and  ear-rings  and 
signet-rings  and  armlets  (or  necklaces,  R.  V. ),  of 
gold,  and  blue  and  purple  and  scarlet  and  fine 
twined  linen,  and  the  women  spinning  it  with  their 
hands,  the  men  offering  silver  and  brass  (bronze  or 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  79 

copper),  and  the  rulers  bringing  precious  stones  of 
several  varieties  (twelve)  for  the  ephod  and  the 
breastplate  ;  of  rings  and  chains  and  wreathen  w^ork 
of  pure  gold,  engraving  on  the  stones  and  on  the 
plate  of  gold,  casting  and  overlaying,  "beaten"  (or 
carved)  work,  and  the  like. 

It  remained  for  explorers  of  the  f  resent  century 
to  find  ample  evidence  of  all  this  skill  prevailing  in 
Egypt,  at  and  long  before  the  time  of  the  exodus. 
The  very  finest  of  fine  linen  has  been  found  there. 
Spinning  and  weaving  by  hand  is  delineated  in  the 
paintings,  and  bright  colors  were  employed.  The 
whole  process  of  working  gold  is  delineated  in  the 
tombs  at  Beni  Hassan  as  early  as  the  twelfth  dy- 
nast}" ;  goldsmiths  are  often  mentioned,  and  even 
'4he  chief  goldsmith  to  the  king.  "^^  In  addition  to 
other  specimens  of  their  work,  we  have  the  re- 
markable collection  found  in  the  tomb  of  Queen 
Ahhotep  of  the  eighth  dynasty  (before  the  exodus), 
which  no  visitor  to  the  former  Boulak  Museum  will 
forget,  and  the  equally  beautiful  and  "wonderful 
jewelry"^'^  of  the  twelfth  dynasty  discovered  at  Da- 
shur  in  1894.^^^  These  trinkets  were  often  interlaced 
with  precious  stones  or  enamel,  and  sometimes 
false  stones  made  of  glass  and  skillfully  colored. 
Of  these  stones  Wilkinson  mentions  lapis-lazuli, cor- 
nelian, amethyst,  agate,  pearls,  haematite,  serpen- 
tine, root  of  emerald,  adding  that  "the  sole  Mu- 
seum of  Leyden  possesses  an  infinite  variety  of  these 
objects  which  were  once  the  pride  of  the  ladies  of 

51  Erman,  p.  460.  5*  lb,,  p,  461.  53  See  note  xiii.,  Appendix, 


80  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Thebes."^*  Engraving  was  done  on  stones  of  all 
kinds,  and  in  one  instance  a  name  was  found  neatly 
cut  on  a  glass  bead  about  1500  B.  C.^^ 

"The  domain  of  the  lapidary,"  says  Maspero, 
"included  the  amethyst,  the  emerald,  the  garnet, 
the  aquamarine,  the  chrysoprase,  the  innumerable 
varieties  of  agate  and  jasper,  lapis-lazuli,  feld- 
spath,  obsidian  ;  also  various  rocks,  such  as  granite, 
serpentine  and  porphyry ;  certain  fossils,  as  yellow 
amber  and  some  kinds  of  turquoise ;  organic  re- 
mains, as  coral,  mother-of-pearl  and  pearls;  metallic 
oxides,  such  as  haematite,  the  oriental  turquoise, 
and  malachite.  "^'^ 

Bronze  also  was  sufficiently  abundant,  as,  for  ex- 
ample, a  bronze  statuette  of  Rameses  II.,  cast  hol- 
low, and  beautifully  chased." 

Two  significant  circumstances  are  to  be  noted  in 
the  construction  of  the  tabernacle :  First,  silver  is 
less  abundantly  used  than  gold.  In  Egypt  silver 
appears  to  have  been  much  less  used  for  jewelry 
than  gold.  Wilkinson  (so  far  as  we  find)  mentions 
one  silver  ring,  while  he  gives  representations  of 
some  score  of  golden  trinkets,  before  the  discovery 
of  the  Ahhotep  or  the  Dashur  collections.  Erman 
accounts  for  it  by  the  fact  that  there  were  no  silver 
mines  in  Egypt.  He  also  affirms  that  "in  the  oldest 
empire  silver  was  regarded  as  the  most  valuable 
metal";  whether  that  be  so  or  not,  he  states  that  as 
a  matter  of  fact  "in  the  tombs  silver  objects  are 
much  rarer  than  gold  ones."^^    Thus  the  use  of  sil- 

54  Wilkinson,  ii.,  343-345.  55  Ibid.,  141. 

,  56  Egypt.    Archaeology,  p.  240-1,  57  Erman,  p.  461.  58  lb.,  p.  461. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  81 

ver  in  the  tabernacle  corresponds  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  land  from  which  their  supplies  were 
drawn. 

Still  more  noteworthy  is  the  case  in  regard  to 
iron.  In  the  abundant  accounts  of  metals  and  metal- 
working  in  the  wilderness,  as  well  as  of  the  car- 
pentry, there  is  not  an  allusion  to  any  use  of  iron, 
in  forms  greater  or  smaller.  Here  is  a  striking 
correspondence  to  the  fact  of  the  scanty  use  of  iron 
in  early  Egypt.  Wilkinson,  in  1836,  left  the  ques- 
tion of  its  use  in  uncertainty.  Birch,  in  1883,  cited 
but  four  instances  of  it  as  early  as  the  Ramessids, 
though  not  doubting  its  use  in  later  times ;  and  only 
in  1894  does  Erman  venture  to  say  that  its  use  for 
tools  under  the  old  empire  "can  scarcely  be  con- 
sidered doubtful.  "^^  This  correspondence  shows 
convincingly  not  only  the  accuracy  of  the  statements 
of  the  narrative,  but  its  virtual  contemporaneous- 
ness with  the  transaction,  as  will  immediately  appear. 

For  when  Israel  had  reached  the  plains  of  Moab 
by  Jordan  (Num.  xxxv.  i ;  Deut.  i.  19),  we  find 
at  length  two  laws  mentioning  "an  instrument  of 
iron."  How  comes  this?  They  had  now  arrived 
in  the  region  east  of  the  Mediterranean,  where  the 
use  of  iron  was  well  known  and  comparatively  com- 
mon. Iron  vessels  were  brought  from  Syria  and 
Phenicia  as  tributes  to  Thothmes  III.^^  Also  farther 

59  A  piece  of  slag  brought  by  the  writer  from  the  Egyptian  mines  at  Wady 
Maghara  showed  that  all  the  copper  but  eight-tenths  per  cent  had  been 
smelted  out;  but  the  more  infusible  iron,  amounting  to  twenty-three  per 
cent,  remained. 

60  Birch  in  Wilkinson's  Egypt,  ii,,  251.  See  also  Records  of  the  Past,  ii., 
52.  Brugsch  (i.,  368)  gives  the  full  list  of  the  tribute,  among  which  are  found 
two  suits  of  iron  armor  (p.  373),  an  iron  suit  of  armor  decorated  with  gold 
(P-  375).  vessels  of  iron  (p.  376),  iron  (p.  380). 


82  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

east,  in  Mesopotamia  (Naharain),  iron  was  to  be 
found,  it  being  now  the  most  abundant  metal  in  the 
mountains  four  days  from  Mosul, ^^  and  in  the  north- 
west palace  at  Nimrud  Layard  found  several  iron 
helmets  and  scales  of  iron  armor,  all  ready  to  drop 
in  pieces  with  rust/^  He  found  also  at  Nimrud  iron 
spear  heads,  arrow  heads,  and  the  head  of  a  hatchet, 
and  even  specimens  of  bronze  cast  over  iron. ^^  And 
while  it  does  not  appear  from  the  surroundings  how 
early  was  the  date,  the  inscription  of  Thothmes, 
already  mentioned,  comes  to  our  aid,  and  informs 
us  that  among  the  spoils  carried  away  "from  the 
river-land  of  the  miserable  Naharain"  were  "  iron 
suits  of  armor  and  weapons/'  Here,  then,  is  the 
clue  to  the  absence  of  all  mention  of  iron  till  the 
arrival  in  Moab ;  there  was  practically  no  iron  be- 
hind them,  it  was  then  around  them.  In  the  book 
of  Judges  and  the  later  books  it  is  often  mentioned 
— thirty  times  or  more. 

Now  for  any  writer  in  after  ages,  eight  hundred 
or  a  thousand  years  later,  to  pass  safely  through  all 
these  liabilities  to  mistake,  snares  and  pitfalls  at 
every  step,  maintaining  his  accuracy  even  in  the 
minutest  points  of  difference  between  the  lands  and 
the  ages  and  the  circumstances,  and  with  no  collec- 
tion of  antiquarian  books  or  museum  to  guide  him, 
there  can  be  no  hesitation  in  saying  is  absolutely  out 
of  the  question.  Yet,  as  may  be  seen  in  Kautzsch's 
recent  work,  modern  critics  have  the  courage  to 

6i  Layard's  Nineveh,  ii.,  315,316.  (S2  lb.  i.,  278. 

63  Layard's  Babylon  and  Nineveh,  pp.  191,  194,  557,  596. 


FROM  THE  EXODUS  TO  THE  CONQUEST  83 

assign  the  whole  narrative  of  the  structure  of  the 
tabernacle  to  P,  during  the  exile  in  Babylonia,  with 
revisions  later/^  In  this  light  we  can  understand 
the  wisdom  which  permanently  incorporated  in  the 
narrative  such  an  amount  of  dry  and,  to  posterity, 
otherwise  seemingly  useless  details. 

But  this  matter  of  the  tabernacle  and  its  concom- 
itants is  but  one  portion  of  the  case  as  it  has  been 
brought  forward  in  this  chapter.  The  argument  is 
cumulative.  And  when  we  take  into  account  all 
the  correspondences  to  geographic  and  historic  fact 
in  the  narrative  of  the  exodus  and  the  wandering, 
it  would  seem  as  though  the  evidences  of  virtually 
contemporaneous  writing  and  personal  knowledge 
were  insuperable.  It  is  a  question  level  to  the  ap- 
prehension of  all  ordinary  intelligence.  It  is  a 
somewhat  perilous  thing  for  a  writer  to  declare  it 
'*an  error  to  suppose  that  topographical  exploration, 
or  the  testimony  of  inscriptions,  supplies  a  refuta- 
tion of  critical  conclusions  respecting  the  books  of 
the  Old  Testament."  And  for  the  author  of  such 
an  assertion  to  say  of  another  scholar  that  he^^  ''is 
singularly  unable  to  distinguish  between  a  good  ar- 
gument and  a  bad  one"  is  still  more  perilous. 

64  Kautzsch  says  about  500  B.  C.  in  Babylonia  was  the  composition  of  the 
proper  priest  codex.  (Supplement,  p.  129.)  More  fully  stated  (p.  188):  "The 
priestly  book  of  history  and  law  in  the  Pentateuch  and  Joshua  originated  as 
the  product  of  Babylonia  and  subsequent  Jerusalem  schools  of  priests  from 
about  500  to  400  B.  C."  Some  critics  speak  of  a  Pi,  P2  P3,  and  Cornill  even  P4. 
Kautzsch  covers  virtually  the  same  ground. 

65  Driver's  Introduction,  p.  149,  of  Prof.  Bissell.  So  too,  Mr.  Girdlestone 
"employs  himself  largely  in  beating  the  air"  (p.  xiv.) 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT 

The  Biblical  account  of  the  residence  of  the 
Israelites  in  Egypt  exhibits  the  same  minutely  ac- 
curate knowledge  of  Egyptian  facts,  and  circum- 
stantial correctness  of  statement ;  the  former  show- 
ing the  close  proximity  of  the  narrative  to  the  times 
of  the  exodus,  and  both  standing  voucher  for  the 
general  truthfulness  of  the  narrative.  In  the  great 
company  of  German  speculators  there  have  been 
found  some  two  or  three  writers  (Stade,  Meyer  and 
Juste)  who  have  expressed  their  doubts  that  the 
Israelites  ever  made  a  settlement  in  Egpyt.  This 
was  to  be  expected,  but  is  too  preposterous  to  have 
found  a  respectable  following  even  in  Germany. 
As  Kittel  remarks,  "There  is  no  event  in  the  en- 
tire history  of  Israel  that  has  more  deeply  impressed 
itself  on  the  memory  of  later  generations  of  this 
people  than  the  abode  in  Egypt  and  the  exodus 
form  the  land  of  the  Nile.  Samuel,  Saul,  Solomon, 
almost  even  David  himself,  stand  in  the  background, 
compared  with  the  Egyptian  house  of  bondage  and 
the  glorious  delivery  therefrom.  Evidently  we 
have  here  no  mere  creation  of  the  legends  of  the 
patriarchs,  but  a  fact  which  lived  deep  down  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  people  in  quite  early  times,  from 
Hosea  and  the  book  of  Samuel  onwards,  a  fact 
graven  deep  in  their  memory.     It  would  betoken  a 

S4 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT  85 

high  and  more  than  normal  deficiency  of  historical 
sense  in  the  Israelite  national  character,  if  a  purely 
mythical  occurrence  gave  the  key-note  of  the  whole 
national  life,  and  formed  the  starting  point  of  the 
entire  circle  of  religious  thought  as  early  as  the 
days  of  the  first  literary  prophets."^ 

This  is  a  mild  statement  of  the  case.  The  ap- 
peal can  be  made  not  merely  to  the  historic  sense, 
but  to  the  convergence  of  historic  facts,  settled  be- 
yond contradiction  after  three  thousand  years. 
During  the  present  century  early  Egyptian  life  has 
been  disclosed  by  the  monuments  and  documents 
with  extraordinary  fullness,  far  more  complete  than 
the  knowledge  we  have  of  the  course  of  life  at  the 
early  Plymouth  colony  in  this  country.  It  covers 
public,  private  and  social  life  in  all  their  forms. 
Now  any  man  who  should  attempt  a  delineation  of 
life  in  the  early  Plymouth  colony,  writing  in  Eng- 
land, or  even  in  New  England,  without  access  to 
full  contemporary  records  and  documents,  would 
be  certain  to  blunder  at  almost  every  step.  And 
even  if  the  re  were  placed  in  his  hands  the  surviving 
contemporary  documents,  such  as  Bradford's  His- 
tory, Morton's  Memorial,  Winslow's  Narrative, 
De  Rassiere's  letter,  and  he  were  granted  a  visit 
to  the  collection  of  antiquities  at  Plymouth,  there  is 
not  a  man  now  living  who,  with  all  those  helps, 
can  fill  up  a  year's  or  a  month's  daily  life  there  dur- 
ing Bradford's  whole  lifetime  with  such  an  amount 
of  minute  and  accurate  detail  as  is  contained  in  the 

I  History  of  the  Hebrews,  I.,  p.  185,  English  translation.     He  gives  refer- 
ences which  it  is  not  necessary  to  quote. 


86  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Pentateuch  concerning  the  Egypt  of  three  thousand 
3-ears  ago.  But  by  what  possibility  could  an  Israel- 
ite in  Palestine  or  Babylonia,  hundreds  of  years 
later,  obtain  that  surprising  amount  of  exact  infor- 
mation? 

Yet  through  all  these  difficulties  and  perils  the 
sacred  writer  walks  boldly  on,  with  a  certainty  of 
direct  statement  and  casual  allusion  which  it  was 
left  to  the  present  century  to  discover.  He  touches 
on  public  and  private  matters,  personal  habits,  cus- 
toms of  society,  modes  of  living,  the  products,  re- 
sources and  seasons  of  the  country,  the  condition, 
occupations,  food  and  drink  of  the  inhabitants,  to 
some  degree  their  language,  and  other  miscellane- 
ous matters  and  implications. 

The  futile  attempt  to  impeach  the  accuracy  of 
this  delineation,  made  in  1835  by  Peter  von  Bohlen, 
professor  of  oriental  languages  at  Koenigsberg, 
though  now  an  old  story,  is  worth  recalling.  Some 
of  the  points  on  which  he  alleged  "mistakes  and 
inaccuracies"  (thereby  betraying,  as  was  remarked 
at  the  time,  that  he  lived  out  of  Egypt  and  long 
after  Moses),  were  these  things  in  Genesis :  The 
brick-making;  the  animals,  namely  sheep  and  asses; 
the  use  of  animal  food ;  the  cultivation  of  the  vine, 
which  at  present  is  very  scanty,  and  not  very  suc- 
cessful except  for  raisins,^  whereas  under  both  the 
Old  and  New  Empires  we  find  vineyards  and  the 
whole  process  of  wine-making,  six  different  kinds 
of  wine  enumerated,  and  in  one  instance  1,500  jars 

2  McCoan's  Egypt,  p.  332, 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT  87 

of  it  sealed  by  one  head-gardener ;  and  other  mat- 
ters/ 

On  these  points  Hengstenberg  not  only  com- 
pletely refuted  his  denial,  but  he  went  further  and 
showed  positively  the  correspondence  of  the  narra- 
tive to  the  then  known  facts  in  the  following  par- 
ticulars :  The  existence  of  eunuchs  in  Egypt ;  the 
morals  and  manners  of  Egyptian  women,  as  seen  in 
the  temptation  of  Joseph  ;  the  functions  of  the  baker 
and  the  carrying  of  baskets  on  the  head ;  the  shav- 
ing of  the  beard  on  coming  from  the  prison ;  the 
signet-ring  ;*  the  fine  linen ;  the  gold  chain ;  the 
sitting  posture  at  meals  (Gen.  xliii  .33),^  whereas 
among  the  Hebrews  from  at  least  the  time  of  Amos 
(and  perhaps  in  the  time  of  the  patriarchs)  reclin- 
ing was  the  custom ;  the  embalming  of  the  dead 
(Gen.  1.  11);  the  coffin,  apparently  of  wood  (Gen. 
1.  26),  a  common  material,  and  fitted  for  the  trans- 
portation better  than  those  of  stone,  which  were  also 
used ;  the  grievous  mourning  of  the  Egyptians  (1. 
1 1) ;  even  its  duration,  seventy  da3^s  (1.  3)  f  the  use 
of  papyrus  (Ex.ii.  3,  R.  V.,  margin)  for  an  ark  or 
basket,  with  the  pitch  to  cement  it  together  and 
the  bitumen  to  make  it  water-tight ;  the  beating  by 
the  taskmasters,  the  bastinado  (Ex.  v.  14);  the  hard 
bondage  in  building  (Ex.  i.  14) ;  the  bricks  com- 

3  Erman,  p.  no. 

4  On  Gen.  xii.  42,  Von  Bohlen  said,  "It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  mention 
that  these  objects  of  luxury,  especially  polished  stones,  belong  to  a  later 
time." 

5  Dillmann  so  understands  Gen.  xxviii.  4,  Strack  and  some  others  dissent- 
ing. Sitting  is  indicated  Gen.  xxvii.19,  Judg.  xix  6,  i  Sam.  xx.  5,  24,  i  Kings 
xiii.  20;  but  reclining  Am.  vi.  4,  Ezek.  xxiii.  41,  and  among  the  Babylon- 
ians, Esther  i.  6,  vii.  8;  also  in  Palestine  in  the  time  of  Christ. 

6  So  apparently  Herodotus,  ii.,  86.    Diodorus  says  seventy-two,  i.,  72. 


88  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

pacted  by  straw  ;  the  freedom  enjoyed  by  Egyptian 
women,  and  their  occasional  failings,  even  to  in- 
toxication at  feasts,  unsparingly  delineated  on  the 
monuments. 

Most  of  the  above-mentioned  correspondences 
have  been  known  for  half  a  century,  and  if  they 
w^ere  all,  they  are  enough  to  show  the  boldness  and 
certainty  with  which  the  writer  moves  among  all 
the  conditions  of  ancient  Egyptian  life. 

But  time  and  further  discovery  only  increase  the 
strength  of  the  evidence  of  personal  knowledge, 
and  in  some  lines  in  a  very  extraordinary  manner. 
In  Ex.  V.  8  we  read  of  "a  tale  of  bricks''  being  re- 
quired of  the  Hebrews  by  their  taskmasters ;  and 
it  is  a  late  discovery  by  Chabas  that  in  the  forced 
labor  of  foreigners  in  making  bricks  "a  daily  tale 
was  required.'"  A  still  more  noteworthy  fact  has 
come  to  light  in  the  excavations  made  in  1883  by 
Petrie  at  Pithom,  to  be  mentioned  later.  The  nar- 
rative tells  how  the  straw  ordinarily  supplied  to  be 
mixed  with  the  clay  for  the  sun-dried  bricks,  was 
withholden,  and  the  people  were  scattered  abroad 
to  "gather  stubble  instead  of  straw."  Miss  Amelia 
B.  Edwards  writes  thus:  "It  is  a  curious  and  in- 
teresting fact  that  the  Pithom  bricks  are  of  three 
qualities.  In  the  lower  courses  of  these  massive 
v/alls  they  are  mixed  wnth  chopped  straw ;  higher 
up,  when  the  straw  may  be  supposed  to  have  run 
short,  the  clay  is  found  to  be  mixed  with  reeds — 
the  same  kind  of  reeds  which  grow  to-day  in  the 

7  R.  S.  Poole,  Cont.  Review,  March,  1879,  p.  755. 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT  89 

bed  of  the  old  Pharaonic  Nile,  and  which  are  trans- 
lated as  'stubble'  in  the  Bible.  Finally,  when  the 
reeds  were  used  up,  the  bricks  of  the  upper  courses 
consist  of  mere  Nile  mud,  with  no  binding  substance 
whatever."' 

It  was  one  of  the  charges  made  by  Von  Bohlen 
(and  repeated  by  some  others)  that  the  writer  of 
Genesis  betrayed  "  ignorance  of  the  natural  con- 
dition of  Egypt"  in  describing  a  seven  years' 
famine,  or  indeed  any  famine  at  all,  Egypt  being 
alleged  to  be  so  regularly  watered  by  the  Nile  as 
to  have  no  such  experiences.  Unquestionably 
famines  are  rare  in  Egypt,  especially  protracted 
ones ;  and  this  makes  the  narrative  the  more  re- 
markable. For  Brugsch  finds  an  Egyptian  record 
belonging  to  the  Hyksos  period  (the  supposed 
period  of  Joseph's  residence  in  Egypt), of  "a  famine 
lasting  many  years."'  No  other  such  famine  is 
recorded  in  later  Egyptian  history  till  that  of  A.  D. 
1064-1071, remarkable  for  having  lasted  seven  years, 
like  that  of  Joseph.  Dr.  Brugsch  is  quite  confident 
that  in  this  ancient  record  of  the  time  of  Rasekenen 
III.  we  have  an  account  of  the  very  famine  of 
Joseph ;  and  Kittel  is  inclined,  though  with  hesita- 
tion, to  agree  with   him.     That   is  not  important^ 

8  Pharaohs,  Fellahs  and  Explorers,  p.  50. 

9  Hist  Eg.,  I.,  p.  304.  In  the  tomb  of  one  Baba  at  El  Kab.  In  his  Stein- 
inschrift  and  Bibelwort  (1891),??.  goseq.,  Brugsch  gives  still  another  record 
found  by  him  later  in  a  rock  in  the  island  Sehel,  between  the  first  cataract 
and  Elephantine.  This  sneaks  definitely  of  a  famine  of  seven  years. 
Though  tiie  famine  is  ascribed  to  the  times  of  King  Tozer,  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years  before  Joseph,  Brugsch  maintains  from  the  language  and  style 
that  Uie  inscription  belongs  to  the  centuries  not  long  B.  U.,  and  tnat  1: 
reouids  a  tradition  of  the  ancient  famine,  that  was  still  kapded  d?\y;j 
/p. -95). 


90  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

The  main  point  is  the  fact  of  a  protracted  famine 
in  Egypt. 

The  temptation  of  Joseph  by  Potiphar's  wife  has 
seemed  to  some  quite  improbable  in  its  details. 
But  the  freedom  with  which  the  Egyptian  women 
moved  about  has  long  been  proved  by  the  monu- 
ments; while  the  Egyptian  story  of  the  Two 
Brothers,  brought  to  light  not  many  years  ago, 
sets  forth  a  series  of  transactions  so  singularly  like 
the  narrative  in  the  main  facts  of  the  temptation, 
the  resistance  and  the  accusation,  as  almost  to  sug- 
gest a  common  origin,  though  against  all  probabil- 
ity.^^ 

In  reference  to  the  whole  history  of  Joseph,  Kit- 
tel  makes  a  statement  of  profound  significance  to 
those  who,  like  himself,  accept  the  literary  decom- 
position of  the  Pentateuch  into  several  narratives  : 
"It  was  comparatively  easy  to  maintain  that  an 
author  who  knew  Egypt,  and  perhaps  had  lived 
there  for  a  time,  composed  the  story  of  Joseph  and 
clothed  it  in  an  Egyptian  garb.  This  account  of 
the  matter  is  almost  hnpossible  nozv  that  two  distinct 
sources  for  the  history  of  Joseph,  J  and  E,  are  uni- 
versally recognized.  The  sources  vary  so  widely 
from  each  other  that  they  must  have  been  written 
at  different  times  and  places.  They  contain  many 
differences  of  no  small  importance,  so  that  they  can 
hardly  be  traced  back  to  a  common  literary  origi- 
nal, yet  they  agree  completely  in  bearing  the  gen- 
uine  Egyptian  stamp.     It  must  also  be  admitted 

lo  Now  to  be  found  in  various  volumes,  e.  g.  Ebers'  Egypt,  pp.  311-314; 
Brugsch's  Hist.  I.,  pp.  309-311;     Records  of  the  Past,  II.,  137. 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT  91 

that  the  Egyptian  element  in  the  narrative  cannot 
be  mere  literary  coloring.  It  must  belong  to  the 
core  of  the  narrative.  This  points  to  a  compara- 
tively high  antiquity,  and  testifies  to  the  existence 
of  an  ancient  tradition,  dating  as  far  back  as  the 
Egyptian  period  itself.  "^^  The  argument  is  of  great 
weight  from  his  point  of  view  ;  although  we  do  not 
admit  it  to  be  "comparatively  easy"  for  any  one 
writer  four  or  five  hundred  years  later  to  have  so 
perfectly  clothed  the  narrative  "in  an  Egyptian 
garb." 

But  these  things  are  but  a  small  part  of  the  marks 
of  intimate  and  personal  knowledge  of  the  condition 
of  Egypt,  and  in  its  different  phases,  in  the  times 
of  Abraham,  Joseph  and  the  exodus  respectively. 

The  series  of  plagues  shows  the  strongest  local 
coloring,  the  supernatural  elements  standing  in 
close  relation  to  the  natural,  as  has  been  pointed 
out  by  various  commentators  from  Hengstenberg  to 
the  present  time.  Among  these  things  are  the  red 
color  of  the  Nile  at  a  certain  season,  the  frogs,  the 
swarms  of  tormenting  insects,  the  murrain,  the  lo- 
custs ;  and  in  connection  with  the  locusts  and  the 
hail  we  have  (Ex.  ix.  31,  32)  an  incidental  allusion 
to  the  order  of  the  ripening  of  the  flax,  barley, 
wheat  and  rye  or  spelt.  Hail  is  very  rare  in  Egypt ; 
but  on  the  19th  of  December,  1873,  the  present 
writer  experienced  in  Alexandria  a  storm  of  wind 
and  rain,  mingled  with  hail,  so  severe  as  to  confine 
at  home  those  who  were  not  compelled  to  be  abroad ; 

II  History  of  the  Hebrews,!.,  p.  i88. 


02  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

and  as  evidence  of  the  destructive  power  of  hail  in 
extraordinary  cases,  he  has  before  him  as  he  writes 
a  dispatch  dated  May  25,  1896,  from  Minot, 
North  Dakota,  informing  the  Associated  Press  in 
Boston  of  a  hail  storm  on  the  day  before,  in  which 
the  ''stones  were  of  enormous  size  and  fell  with 
terrific  force,"  and  that  "cattle  on  the  ranges  suf- 
fered severely,  many  being  pounded  to  death  by 
the  hail."  Indeed,  so  minutely  close  is  this  local 
coloring  that  in  Ex.  vii.  19  the  several  words  trans- 
lated rivers,  streams,  ponds  and  pools  of  water  are 
recognized  by  Knobel,  Dillmann  and  others  as  des- 
ignating (in  the  Hebrew)  the  Nile  itself  and  its 
arms,  the  canals,  the  lakes  or  ponds,  and  "all  other 
collections  of  water,  as  cisterns,  wells,  pools  and 
reservoirs"  (Dillmann).  But  while  the  natural  ba- 
sis, so  to  call  it,  appears  in  all  the  plagues,  the  nar- 
rative, which  does  not  ignore  it,  also  steadily  rises 
above  it,  so  that,  in  the  words  of  Kalisch,"we  cannot 
but  acknowledge  the  miraculotis  character'  with  which 
all  without  exception  are  stamped."  He  specilies 
their  taking  place  at  unusual  times ;  the  rapid  suc- 
cession of  very  rare  occurrences ;  the  aggravation 
of  their  character ;  their  occurrence  as  predicted ; 
their  cessation  at  the  prayer  of  Moses ;  their  limi- 
tation to  the  Egyptians.  ^'^ 

When  we  turn  to  the  time  of  Abraham,  we  find 
in  the  list  of  presents  made  to  him  b}^  Pharaoh, 
oxen,  sheep  and  asses,  all  of  which  are  found  abun- 
dantly delineated  on  the  monuments  of   the  earlier 

12  Comment  on  Ex.  vii.,  pp.  117,  n8. 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT  93 

times ;  yet  no  mention  of  horses,  although  horses 
and  chariots  occur  in  the  narrative  of  the  Exodus. 
The  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the  now  well  set- 
tled fact  that  horses  were  not  introduced  into  Egypt, 
certainly  not  mentioned,  till  the  eighteenth  dynasty 
— that  is,  after  the  time  of  Abraham/^ 

The  mention  of  camels  among  the  gifts  to  Abra- 
ham, however,  has  been  cited  as  an  anachronism, 
inasmuch  as  no  inscription  and  no  painting  shows 
the  animal  in  Egypt  before  Grecian  times.  But 
although  Birch  and  Erman  concede  the  point,  and 
Dillmann  suggests  that  the  two  words  may  be  the 
addition  of  a  copyist  or  an  editor  (in  itself  a  ver}^ 
possible  supposition),  yet  neither  the  concession 
nor  the  explanation  are  called  for.  As  matter  of 
fact,  in  the  borings  made  by  the  sagacious  Heke- 
kian  Bey  between  the  years  185 1  and  1854  ^"  ^^^ 
Nile  valley  (some  ninety-five  in  number,  and  pene- 
trating in  some  instances  to  the  depth  of  sixty  feet), 
"bones  of  the  ox,  hog,  dog,  dromedary  and  ass 
were  not  uncommon.'"*  Furthermore,  the  Egyptian 
traveler,  or  Mohar,  about  the  fourteenth  century 
B.  C,  calls  for  camel  to  eat  in  Palestine,  evidentl}' 
indicating  thereby  a  knowledge  of  the  animal.  ^^ 
Wiedemann,  in  1891,  remarks  also  that  "the  pres- 
ence of  the  animal  in  the  Nile  valley  is  attested  by 
the  classics,  and  that  therefore  the  non-mention  of 
it  cannot  be  due  to  its  being  unknown  in  the  land, 
but  if  not   simply  accidental,  must  rest   on  other, 

13  Erman,  p.  493;  Wilkinson,  II.,  p.  loi. 

14  Lyell's  Antiquity  of  Man,  p.  35. 

15  Records  of  the  Past,  II.,  p.  ii2. 


94  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

perhaps  religious,  grounds.'"^  Both  Wilkinson  and 
Ebers^^  have  called  attention  to  the  similar  fact  that 
poultry,  although  known  from  other  sources  to  have 
been  abundant  in  ancient  Egypt,  as  in  modern 
times,  do  not  appear  on  the  monuments.  The  sug- 
gestion of  Ebers  that  the  camel  w^as  in  ancient  times 
confined  to  northern  Egypt  would  explain  its  ab- 
sence from  the  drawings,  which  are  most  abundant 
in  southern  Egypt.  Whatever  the  explanation,  the 
fact  appears  to  have  been  settled  by  Hekekian  Bey. 
The  freshness  and  immediateness  of  the  writer's 
knowledge  is  indicated  by  the  Egyptian  words  and 
phrases  clinging  to  his  narrative.  Ebers  cites  the 
reed-grass  (R.  V.  Gen.  xl.  2),  where  the  word 
achu  is  borrowed  from  the  Egyptian,  and  the 
phrase  "brink  of  the  river"  (ver.  3), literally  "lip  of 
the  river,"  is  an  Egyptian  phrase  (though  not  ex- 
clusively so),  and  throughout  the  chapter  "the 
river"  is  the  Nile,  after  the  Eg3^ptian  conception. 
Mr.  Poole  (after  Chabas)  finds  the  oath  "by  the 
life  of  Pharaoh"  (Gen.  xlii.  i,  15,  16)  to  be  trace- 
able in  Egyptian  official  proceedings,  as  well  as  the 
bowing  on  the  staff  (Gen.  xliii.  29-31,  Septuagint). 
The  phrase  "ark  of  bulrushes, "or  chest  of  papyrus 
(ii.  3),  contains  a  word,  tevah,  which  has  an  Egyp- 
tian equivalent,  tba,  as  old  as  the  twelfth  dynasty,  ^^ 
meaning  chest;  gome,  papyrus,  has  its  equivalent 
in  the  Coptic  kam;  the  pitch,  zefheth  (Hebrew),  is 
found  in  the  Egyptian  sft;  and  the  traveler  can  still 

16  Cited  by  Strack  in  his    Comment  on  Gen.  xii.  i6. 

17  Egypt,  p.  268. 

18  Birch  in  Bunsen's  Egypt,  I.  p.  482. 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT  OB 

see  "  flags"  growing  by  the  borders  of  the  Nile, 
where  the  current  is  sluggish  enough  to  permit. 
The  hin  reproduces  the  Egpytian  han,^^  a  vase  or 
measure,  and  the  ephah  is  also  an  Egyptian  meas- 
ure. The  stubble  and  straw  of  Ex.  v.  12  are  in  the 
Hebrew  close  transcripts  of  Egyptian  words  mean- 
ing straw  and  chaff.  The  pot  in  which  the  manna 
was  to  be  deposited  (Ex.  xvi.  33)  is  expressed 
by  a  term  not  found  elsewhere  in  the  Bible,  which 
in  the  inscriptions,  according  to  Brugsch,  means  a 
casket  or  vase  for  oblations.  The  timbrel  of  Miriam 
bore  an  Egyptian  name.^*^  The  "chariots"  of  the 
triumphal  song  of  the  Israelites,  inarkebotk,  is  the 
monumental  word  markabatu  for  the  same  thing. 
Many  other  words  in  this  part  of  the  narrative,  words 
of  common  life,  such  as  are  wont  to  cling  to  a  speech, 
offer  no  Hebrew  derivations,  and  are  ascribed  with 
more  or  less  confidence  to  an  Egyptian  origin,  such 
as  the  words  for  enchantment,  sorcerers,  frogs, 
boils,  blains,  flax,  and  others.  Any  uncertainty  in 
regard  to  these,  however,  does  not  detract  from  the 
significance  of  the  cases  that  are  clear. 

Dr.  Ebers  confidently  finds  two  of  the  spices, 
such  as  the  Ishmaelites  were  carrying  down  to 
Egypt  (Gen.  xxxvii.  25),  among  the  ingredients  of 
the  celebrated  incense  Kyphi,  as  mentioned  in  a 
papyrus  at  the  laboratory  of  the  Edfu  temple :  the 
"  incense,  "probably  tragacanth,is  in  Hebrew  nekoth, 
in  modern  Arabic  naka'at  (tragacanth),  and  in  the 

ig  lb.,  p.  462. 

20  The  last  five  instances  are  on  the  authority  of   Brugsch's  Dictionary  of 
Hieroglyphics,  as  cited  by  Canon  Cook  in  The  Speaker's  Commentary. 


96  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

papyrus  nekfat;  the  "balm,"  in  Hebrew  tsori,  in 
the  papyrus  tsara.'^^  Mr.  Tomkins  accepts  the  iden- 
tification." 

This  point  admits  of  further  illustration.  We 
add  only  a  remark  of  Mr.  Poole:  "It  is  chiefly  in 
proper  names  that  we  recognize  the  Egyptian  influ- 
ence on  the  Hebrews.  That  of  Moses  has  been 
admitted  to  be  Egyptian.  There  is  no  Hebrew  der- 
ivation of  Aaron  and  Miriam."  He  mentions  also 
Phinehas.^"^ 

On  no  question  of  the  veracity  of  the  Scripture 
narrative  have  its  assailants  been  more  absolutely 
routed  than  in  regard  to  the  Hittites.  They  are 
mentioned  at  intervals  through  a  period  of  about  a 
thousand  years.  First  Abraham  deals  with  members 
of  the  race  at  Hebron.  Just  before  the  entrance  into 
Palestine  we  find  them  apparently  consolidated, 
localized  farther  north,  and  become  a  great  power 
so  that  Canaan  is  even  described  summarily  as  "the 
land  of  the  Hittites."  They  are  among  the  most 
formidable  foes  encountered  by  Joshua.  They  ap- 
pear in  the  times  of  David  and  Solomon,  both  of 
whom  took  Hittite  wives,  the  former  having  two 
Hittites,  Uriah  and  Ahimelech,  among  his  most 
faithful  captains.  In  the  time  of  Jehoram  the  army 
of  Benhadad  were  panic-struck  and  fled  from  the 
siege  of  Samaria  because,  as  they  said,  "the  king 
of  Israel  hath  hired  against  us  the  kings  of  the 
Egyptians  and  the  kings  of  the   Hittites  to  come 

21  Ebers'  Egypt,  p.  290. 

22  Tompkins'  Life  and  Times  of  Joseph,  p.  37. 

23  Contemporary  Review,  1879,  p.  755. 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT  07 

upon  us" — where,  it  will  be  seen,  the  Hittites  are 
placed  in  the  same  category  with  the  Egyptians  of 
that  period.  Now  with  the  cool  assurance  which 
assails  any  scriptural  statement  which  is  not  sup- 
posed capable  of  outside  corroboration,  Professors 
Cheyne  and  W.  F.  Newman  pronounced  this  rep- 
resentation of  Hittite  power  to  be  unworthy  of  cre- 
dence. The  former  declared  that  the  Bible  state- 
ments concerning  the  Hittites  "cannot  be  taken  as 
of  equal  authority  with  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  in- 
scriptions," also  that  "the  Hittites  seem  to  have 
been  included  among  the  Canaanites  by  mistake." 
He  little  thought  that  both  Egyptian  and  Assyrian 
inscriptions  were  ready  to  silence  him.  Professor 
Newman  went  so  far  as  to  say  of  the  panic  of  the 
Syrian  army,  "The  unhistorical  tone  is  too  mani- 
fest," "the  particular  ground  of  alarm  attributed  to 
them  does  not  exhibit  the  writer's  acquaintance 
with  the  times  in  very  favorable  light,"  "no  Hit- 
tite kings  can  be  compared  with  the  king  of  Judah, 
the  real  and  near  ally  who  is  not  named  at  all," 
"nor  is  there  a  single  mark  of  acquaintance  with 
the  contemporaneous  history." 

These  bold  assertions  are  now  annihilated.  The 
early,  long-continued  and  steadily  growing  power 
of  this  nation  till  it  became  an  equal  foe  of  the 
Egyptians,  the  fact  of  its  steady  pressure  south- 
ward into  Palestine,  its  protracted  contact  and  con- 
flict with  the  Assyrian  kings  from  the  time  of  Sar- 
gon  I.  till  Sargon  II.,  more  than  a  thousand  years,  ^* 

24  Wright's  The  Empire  of  the  Hittites,  pp.  37,  123. 


98  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

are  now  thoroughly  proved  by  inscriptions  and  doc- 
uments from  Egypt,  Assyria  and  Palestine.  They 
appear  to  be  first  mentioned  in  the  time  of  Userte- 
sen  I.  in  Egypt  ;^^  were  known  in  connection  with 
other  allied  nations  in  the  times  of  Thothmes  III., 
are  designated  in  the  inscriptions  as  "the  great  peo- 
ple," whom,  however,  that  great  warrior  conquered, 
subjecting  them  to  a  heavy  tribute  which  he  re- 
cords in  its  details  (about  B.  C.  1600).^^  But  in  the 
time  of  Rameses  II.  this  nation  had  become  so 
powerful  that  after  a  doubtful  victory  at  Kadesh  on 
the  Orontes,  claimed  by  the  Egyptian  monarch, 
"the  great  ruler  of  Egypt"  was  constrained  to 
make  a  covenant  on  equal  terms  with  "the  great 
Prince  of  the  Kheta"  (Hittites),  to  "be  at  peace 
with  him  forever.  "^^ 

The  Assyrian  inscriptions  show  constant  warfare 
going  on  between  the  Hittites  and  the  several  As- 
syrian monarchs,  Tiglath-pileser  (11 20  B.  C),  As- 
surnazirpal  (about  870  B.  C),  Shalmaneser,  and 
Sargon  II.,  till,  in  717  B.  C,  they  were  finally 
overthrown  by  the  last  named  monarch,  and  disap- 
peared from  the  Assyrian  inscriptions."^  Meanwhile 
another  side-light  is  cast  on  the  nation  by  recently 
discovered  inscriptions  of  the  Vannic  king  Me- 
nuas,  one  of  which,  discovered  at  Van,  speaks  of 
war  with  the  Hittites,  and  the  capture  of  2,113 
soldiers,  indicating  also  the  Hittite  border  upon  the 

25  Brugsch's  Hist.,  II.,  p.  405. 

26  lb.,  I.,  379  seq. 

27  lb.,  II.,  p.  71  seq. 

28  Wright's  Empire  of  the  Hittites,  p.  i7t,  123. 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT  99 

Euphrates  near  Palu  f  and  another  inscription  at 
Palu  some  fifty  miles  from  Harpoot,  very  recently 
copied  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Barton  and  translated  by  Pro- 
fessor Sayce.  The  latter  inscription,  carved  at  a 
considerable  height  on  the  castle  rock,  written  in 
the  Vannic  language  with  the  Assyrian  characters 
by  the  same  Menuas,  records  his  making  war  with 
the  Hittite  king  of  Malatia,  about  800  B.  C. 

And  now  since  the  year  1887,  and  the  discovery 
of  the  Tell  Amarna  contemporary  documents  of 
about  the  date  1480  B.  C.,''''  we  are  able  to  trace 
the  southward  progress  of  this  powerful  race  as 
they  carry  conquest  and  terror  from  the  region  of 
Aleppo  some  three  hundred  miles  to  the  south  of 
Damascus,  and  towards  Phenicia.  No  less  than 
eight  of  the  letters  published  by  Conder  mention 
the  Hittites  as  an  advancing  foe,  and  despairingly 
appeal  to  Egypt  for  help,  while  others  of  them 
evidently  refer  to  the  same  formidable  enemy, 
^' men  of  blood. "^^  And  thus  at  last  the  Biblical 
representation  of  this  people  is  fully  sustained,  and 
the  unfounded  cavils  made  to  recoil  upon  their 
authors.  Moreover  the  helplessness  of  Egypt  to 
protect  her  tributaries,  and  the  internal  conflicts  of 
the  native  tribes  of  Palestine,  indicate  a  state  of 
affairs  ready  for,  and  explanatory  of,  the  Israelite 
invasion  and  conquest. 

29  Records  of  the  Past,  New  Series  Vol.  I  pp.  164-167.  The  facts  con- 
cerning the  second  inscription  were  communicated  to  the  author  by  Mr. 
Barton. 

30  The  date  is  determined  by  that  of  Amenophis  IV.,  to  whom  the  letters 
were  written. 

31  Gender's  Tell  Amarna  Letters,  1893.  These  letters  show  the  Amorites 
threatening  the  Egyptian  possessions  in  southern  Palestine,  while  the  Hittites 
are  doing  so  in  the  north.    The  larger  collection  of  Winckler  exhibits  these 

Ifacts  much  more  abundantly.  ,         , 


100  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

We  mention  but  one  other  fact  in  connection  with 
Egypt,  the  discovery  of  Pithom,  one  of  the  two 
store  cities  (R.  V.)  which  Pharaoh  compelled  the 
Israelites  to  build  (Ex.  i.  ii).  This  remarkable 
discovery  was  reserved  for  the  year  1883,  and  the 
explorations  of  M.  Naville,  and  is  now  accepted  by 
Egyptologists.  The  name  of  the  place  (Pi  Tum) 
is  given  five  times  in  the  inscription ;  the  name  of 
the  god  Tum  is  repeated  many  times.  Rameses  II. 
is  represented,  in  a  carving  on  a  monolith,  seated 
between  the  gods  Ra  and  Tum ;  his  oval  is  on  a 
fragment  of  a  temple,  and  on  a  black  granite  hawk, 
and  the  ruins  correspond  to  the  uses  of  a  store  city. 
Within  an  enclosure  of  enormously  thick  walls, 
comprising  a  space  of  55,000  square  yards,  are  the 
remains  of  a  temple,  and  some  "  very  strange  build- 
ings" having  smooth  walls  from  two  to  three  yards 
in  thickness.  These  form  a  great  number  of  rec- 
tangular compartments  having  no  communication 
with  one  another,  but  opening  only  upwards,  and 
about  two  yards  from  the  bottom  are  provided  with 
rectangular  holes  for  timbers.  Naville  believes 
them  to  have  been  built  for  no  other  purpose  than 
that  of  store  houses  or  granaries  into  which  the 
Pharaohs  gathered  the  provisions  necessary  for 
armies  about  to  cross  the  desert,  or  even  for  cara- 
vans which  were  on  the  road  to  Syria.  ^^  The  place 
is  about  twelve  miles  west  of  Ismalieh,  in  Wady 
Tumilat  (included  in  Goshen),  and  in  what  the  in- 
scriptions seem  to  indicate  as  the  territory  of  Suc- 

32  The  Store  City  of  Pithom,  by  Edward  Naville  (1885),  pp.  13  seq. 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT  ICl 

coth,  in  which  was  one  of  the  stations  of  the  Israel- 
ites on  the  exodus.  It  was  also  upon  the  sweet 
water  canal,  which  was  as  old  as  the  time  of  Ra- 
meses,  and  would  have  been  on  the  natural  line  of 
the  march.  The  peculiarity  as  to  the  structure  of 
the  bricks  has  been  mentioned  on  a  previous  page.'' 

Now  without  further  enumerating  the  tokens  of 
minute  accuracy  in  these  accounts  concerning  Egypt 
and  its  affairs  from  the  time  of  Abraham  to  that  of 
Moses,  it  becomes  clear  that  here  is  a  narrative 
which,  when  subjected  to  the  closest  scrutiny  by 
every  known  test  and  by  tests  unknown  for  ages, 
is  shown  to  be  thoroughly  trustworthy ;  and  not 
only  so,  but  to  manifest  such  a  knowledge  of  the 
facts  and  circumstances  of  those  times  and  places 
as  was  impossible — we  use  the  word  deliberately — 
to  any  writer  living  a  thousand  or  five  hundred 
years  after  the  time,  as  well  as  far  away  from  the 
scenes,  and  without  any  records  on  which  to  draw. 
And  by  the  very  postulate  of  modern  hostile  critics, 
the  writer  or  writers  had  no  contemporary  authori- 
ties. 

Scholarly  writers  who  have  given  most  attention 
to  the  facts  of  modern  discovery  are  most  emphatic 
in  their  verdict  on  these  matters.  Conder  does  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  the  Tell  Amarna  letters  "most 
fully  confirm  the  historical  statements  of  the  book 
of  Joshua.'"*  Dr.  W.  Wright,  speaking  of  the  ref- 
erences to  the  Hittites  in  the  Bible,  says:  "We 
have  examined  the  contemporary  records  of  Baby- 

33  See  page  88.  34  The  Tell  Amarna  Tablets,  p.  6, 


102  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Ion,  Assyria  and  Egypt,  and  we  find  not  only  col- 
lateral evidence  which  creates  a  probability  in 
favor  of  the  sacred  narratives,  but  side-lights  which 
shine  so  clearly  on  the  incidents  that  unbelief  is  im- 
possible."^^ Canon  Tristram,  a  skillful  naturalist, 
thinks  the  special  "mention  of  the  desert  animals 
is  one  of  the  strongest  pieces  of  evidence  in  favor 
of  the  authenticity  of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy."^^ 
Sir  Walter  Besant,  so  many  years  secretary  of  the 
Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  and  perfectly  conver- 
sant with  its  results,  in  a  careful  and  continuous 
answer  (too  long  to  quote  in  full)  to  the  inquiry 
whether  these  researches  actually  prove  the  histor- 
ical part  of  the  Old  Testament,  reaches  the  conclu- 
sion:  "To  my  mind,  absolute  truth  in  local  de- 
tails— a  thing  which  cannot  possibly  be  invented, 
when  it  is  spread  over  a  history  covering  many 
centuries — is  proof  almost  absolute  as  to  the  truth 
of  the  things  related."^' 

In  the  same  strain,  and  still  more  decisive  as  to 
not  only  the  truthfulness  but  the  substantial  con- 
temporaneousness of  the  closing  part  of  Genesis 
and  the  first  third  of  Exodus,  are  the  words  of  so 
eminent  a  judge  as  the  late  R.  S.  Poole,  written 
before  some  of  the  very  latest  discoveries:  "It  is 
now  certain  that  the  narrative  of  the  history  of 
Joseph  and  the  sojourn  and  Exodus  of  the  Israel- 
ites, that  is  to  say,  the  portion  from  Genesis  xxxix. 
to  Exodus  XV.,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  Egypt,  is  sub- 

35  The  Empire  of  the  Hittites,  p.  123. 

36  The  City  and  the  Land,  p.  80. 

37  lb.,  p.  133. 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT 


103 


stantially  not  much  later  than  B.  C.  1300;  in  other 
words,  was  written  when  the  memory  of  the  events 
was  fresh.     The  minute  accuracy  of  the  text  is  in- 
consistent with  any  later  date.     It  is  not  merely 
that  it  shows  knowledge  of  Egypt,  but  knowledge 
of  Egpyt  under  the   Ramessides,  and  yet  earlier. 
The  condition  of  the  country,  the  chief  cities  of  the 
frontier,  the  composition  of  the  army,  are  true  of 
the  age  of  the  Ramessides  and  not  true  of  the  age 
of  the  Pharaohs  contemporary  with  Solomon  and 
his   successors."     After  alluding  to  many  details 
which  sustain  his  position,  he  mentions  the  signifi- 
cant fact  that  "foreign  Egyptologists  who  have  no 
theological  bias,    as   independent  scholars  appear 
uniformly  to  accept  its  text  (that  of  the  Pentateuch) 
as  an  authority  to  be  cited  side  by  side  with  the 
Egyptian    monuments."      He    specifies    Lepsius, 
Brugsch  and  Chabas,  adding  that  "it  is  impossible 
that'they  can,  for  instance,  hold  Kuenen's  theories 
as  to  the  date  of  the  Pentateuch  as  far  as  the  part 
relating  to  Egypt  is  concerned.     They  have  taken 
the  two  sets  of  documents,  Hebrew  and  Egyptian, 
side  by  side,  and  in  the  working  of  elaborate  prob- 
lems found  everything  consistent  with  accuracy  on 
both  sides ;  and  of  course  accuracy  would  not  be 
maintained  in  a  tradition    handed    down  through 
several  centuries.     If  the  large  portion  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch relating  to  the  Egyptian  period  of  Hebrew 
history,  including  as  it  does  Elohistic  as  well  as 
Jehovistic  sections,  is  of  the  remote  antiquity  here 
claimed  for  it,  no  one  can  doubt  that  the  first  four 


104  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

books  of  Moses  are  of  the  same  antiquity.  "^^  Such 
facts  and  testimonies  are  apprehensible  to  all  fair- 
minded  men. 

In  this  same  connection  should  be  borne  in  mind 
the  national  commemorative  observances  of  the 
Hebrew  nation,  existing  as  great  central  landmarks 
in  their  history',  and  explained  only  by  the  truthful- 
ness of  the  narrative — the  passover,  perpetuating 
the  hurried  departure ;  the  feast  of  the  tabernacles, 
commemorating  the  dwelling  in  booths  in  the  wil- 
derness (Lev.  xxiii.  43) ;  the  consecration  of  the 
first-born  in  commemoration  of  their  deliverance 
when  the  first-born  of  Egypt  perished.  These 
things  stand  somewhat  like  our  Fourth  of  July  and 
Washington's  birthday,  telling  their  own  stor}^ 
through  the  history  of  the  nation,  with  the  impor- 
tant differences  that  they  were  enjoined  as  religious 
observances,  and  as  transmitted  from  contempora- 
neous times.  How  they  could  have  been  imposed 
upon  the  nation  at  any  later  date  as  transmitted  ob- 
servances has  never  yet  been  shown. 

Now  in  the  presence  of  such  an  array  of  indis- 
putable facts  as  can  thus  be  gathered  up  at  every 
point  where  a  test  can  be  applied,  theories,  how- 
ever ingenious,  resting  upon  the  introduction  of 
supposed  but  absolutely  unknown  writers,  compilers 
and  editors,  upon  skillful  dissections  of  the  text  into 
parts  and  often  into  comminuted  fragments,  trans- 
positions ad  libitiun,  rejections  and  assumed  omis- 
sions, need  not  count  for  much  with  men  who  are 

38  Contemp.  Rev.,  1879,  pp.  758,  759.    See  note  xiv.,  Appendix. 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT  105 

governed  by  evidence  and  not  by  speculations. 
It  has  sometimes  been  objected  that  the  Hebrews 
are  not  mentioned  on  the  Egyptian  monuments. 
But  Kittel  speaks  with  emphasis  on  this  point: 
"This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  considering  how 
many  such  foreign  immigrations  took  place,  espe- 
cially during  the  middle  kingdom.  There  is  not  a 
single  statement  in  the  old  Egyptian  monuments 
which  can  be  unhesitatingly  explained  as  referring 
to  the  immigration  of  the  so-called  Hyksos.  Yet 
this  was  of  far  more  significance  to  Egypt  than 
that  of  the  Hebrews.  To  determine  when  and 
whence  the  Hyksos  came  we  have  to  depend  on 
late  and  inadequate  information.  The  monuments 
do  not  even  give  their  name.  This  being  so,  it  is 
simply  marvelous  how  the  silence  of  the  monu- 
ments with  respect  to  the  Hebrews  could  have  been 
adduced  as  a  weighty  argument  against  their  hav- 
ing stayed  in  Egypt."''  He  also  suggests  how 
Egyptian  pride  would  have  prevented  the  mention 
of  their  immigration  and  exodus ;  and  how  almost 
incredible  that  a  nation  with  the  national  sentiment 
and  almost  arrogance  of  the  Jews  would  have  in- 
vented the  fiction  of  a  ''long-continued  and  shame- 
ful bondage"  of  their  forefathers.  To  this  it  is  to 
be  added  that  the  monuments  in  their  reference  to 
foreign  nations  always  commemorate  the  alleged 
victories  and  conquests  of  the  Egyptian  monarchs, 
and  never  their  humiliations.  This  was  the  state 
of  the  case  when  Kittel  wrote  in  1887. 

39  History,  I.,  p.  185. 


106  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

But  it  is  not  proper  to  close  the  present  chapter 
without  allusion  to  the  recent  unquestionable  find- 
ing of  Israel  on  the  Egyptian  monuments,  and  that 
too  in  an  inscription  of  Menephtah,  the  commonly 
supposed  monarch  of  the  exodus.  It  is  dated  in 
the  fifth  year  of  that  monarch,  the  same  year  in 
which  another  inscription  of  his  (previously  known) 
had  mentioned  his  conquest  of  the  Libyans.  The 
earlier  part  of  the  recent  find  (December,  1895) 
glorifies  his  defeat  of  the  same  Libyan  invasion, 
and  the  passage  immediately  connected  with  the 
mention  of  Israel  is  translated  by  Mr.  Griffith  for 
M.  Petrie  as  follows:  "For  the  sun  of  Egypt 
has  wrought  this  change ;  he  was  born  as  the  fated 
means  of  revenging  it,  the  king  Menephtah.  Chiefs 
bend  down,  saying,  'Peace  to  thee' ;  not  one  of  the 
nine  raises  the  head.  Vanquished  are  the  Tahennu 
(N.  Africans) ;  the  Kheta  (Hittites)  are  quieted ; 
ravaged  is  Pa-kannu  (Kanan)  with  all  violence ; 
taken  is  Ascadni  (Askelon?);  seized  is  Kazmel ; 
Yenu  (Yanoh)  of  the  Syrians  is  made  as  though  it 
had  not  existed ;  the  people  of  Israel  is  spoiled,  it 
hath  no  seed ;  Syria  has  become  as  widows  in  the 
land  of  Egypt ;  all  lands  together  are  in  peace. 
Ever}^  one  that  was  a  marauder  hath  been  subdued 
by  the  king  Menephtah,  who  gives  life  like  the 
sun  every  day.-'*" 

Professor  Hommel's  translation  agrees  substan- 
tially with  this  in  the  sentence  relating  to  Israel, 
explaining,     however,     that    the    word     rendered 

40  Petrie  in  the  Contemporary  Review,  May,  1896,  p.  622.     Note  xxxiii. 


THE  RESIDENCE  IN  EGYPT  107 

''spoiled"  {fekf)  does  not  occur  elsewhere,  but  has 
a  determinative  meaning  "evil  things,"  and  is 
possibly  connected  with  another  (y^),  meaning 
"overrun  an  enemy";  and  he  renders  the  phrase, 
"it  has  no  fruit.""  Sayce  translates  "the  Israelites 
are  minished  (?)  so  that  they  have  no  seed."*^  All 
three  writers  agree  that  the  word  expresses  some 
serious  damage  done  to  Israel,  and  that  the  word 
"seed"  is  used  in  the  Egyptian,  as  in  our  own 
language,  of  offspring  or  posterity.  This  last 
circumstance  has  been  regarded  as  a  striking  coin- 
cidence whh  the  Scripture  account  of  the  measures 
adopted  by  Pharaoh  to  exterminate  the  Israelites. 
A  collateral  difficulty,  not  affecting  the  main 
point,  the  mention  of  Israel  by  Menephtah,  has 
been  raised,  Petrie  thinking  the  whole  paragraph 
to  narrate  a  succession  of  conquests,  and,  from  the 
mention  of  the  Hittites  and  localities  in  Syria  and 
Palestine  in  the  connection,  that  the  damage  to 
Israel  must  have  been  in  Palestine  and  not  in 
Egypt;  while  Sayce,  Hommel  and  Dr.  Selin  (and 
others)  understand  it  to  refer  to  the  suppression  of 
Israel  in  Egypt.  While  we  may  wait  for  further 
light,  several  considerations  are  urged,  strongly 
pointing  to  the  latter  view  :  (i)  it  does  not  appear 
that  Menephtah  ever  was  in  Asia,  or  made  any 
actual  conquests  except  over  the  Libyans;  (2)  his 
defeat  of  the  Libyans  was  but  the  repelling  of  an 
invasion;  (3)  the  phraseology  ("is  spoiled,  it  hath 
no  seed"),  in  which  it  is  difficult  not  to  see  a  refer- 

41  In  the  Independent,  Sept.  24,  1896. 

42  lb.,  July  II,  1896. 


108  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

ence  to  the  measures  of  Pharaoh,  as  recordea  in 
Exodus  i.  ;  (4)  the  absence  of  the  determinative 
meaning  country  or  city,  which  is  attached  to  the 
other  names  but  wanting  here,  while  the  sign  de- 
noting simply  man  or  woman  (or  persons)  follows 
the  name  Israel;  (5)  the  natural  apprehension  of 
the  whole  paragraph,  not  as  a  record  of  conquests 
which  this  monarch  does  not  appear  to  have  made, 
but,  in  connection  with  a  boastful  outburst  imme- 
diately following  his  defeat  of  the  Libyan  invasion, 
a  glorification  of  the  relations  of  the  empire  or  its 
ruler  to  its  former  enemies,  among  which  is  men- 
tioned the  movement,  for  a  time  successful,  to  sup- 
press the  Israelites. 

Whatever  ultimate  decision,  if  any,  may  be 
reached  on  this  collateral  point,  we  may  say,  in  the 
words  of  Professor  Hommel,  "However  dark  the 
reference  of  Menephtah  may  be  to  Israel,  neverthe- 
less the  fact  that  mention  is  made  of  them,  and  that 
too  in  the  connection  to  which  I  have  referred  (as 
having  participated  in  the  Egyptian  troubles  of 
previous  years),  is  itself  a  matter  of  great  impor- 
tance, in  so  far  as  it  confirms  what  has  been  before 
surmised,  namely,  Menephtah  is  the  Pharaoh  of  the 
exodus."  At  all  events  it  has  furnished  the  onl}^ 
wanting  link  in  the  historic  chain,  namely,  the 
Pharaoh's  own  statement  of  his  severities  upon 
Israel. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY 

It  has  become  customary  with  a  certain  class  of 
modern  writers  to  deny  more  or  less  completely  the 
Scripture  narratives  of  the  patriarchs.  They  are 
resolved  into  names  of  clans,  or  they  are  legends, 
or  traditions  with  a  possible  historic  core,  or  they 
are  ideas  clothed  in  a  personal  form.  The  denial 
is  conducted  with  much  diversity  of  treatment,  from 
the  supercilious  doggedness  of  Wellhausen  to  the 
patronizing  courtesy  of  an  Oxford  Fellow,  who  in- 
forms us  thus:  "Even  the  noble  narrative  of  the 
Jahvist  is  not  sober  history.  Yet  in  another  and  a 
very  real  sense  the  Hexateuch  becomes  in  the 
hands  of  scholars  a  history  of  unique  interest.  It 
is  not  indeed  the  history  of  Abraham  and  Jacob,  of 
Moses  and  Joshua.  It  is  the  history — a  history 
which  cannot  deceive  any  more  than  the  history  de- 
ciphered by  geologists  on  the  rocks  can  deceive — of 
religious  ideas.  "^  It  seems  that  it  had  to  fall  into 
the  "hands  of  scholars"  to  divest  it  of  its  personal 
life  before  it  acquired  this  "unique  interest"  to 
mankind.  With  the  personality  of  the  men  goes 
also,  of  course,  the  reality  of  the  transactions. 

The  narratives  take  us  into  times  otherwise  pre- 
historic.    The  denier  certainly  has  this  advantage, 

I  Addis,  The  Documents  of  the  Hexateuch,  p.  xcv. 
109 


110  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

which  he  is  not  slow  to  use,  that  he  can  deny  indis- 
criminately their  statements  without  being  con- 
fronted with  parallel  accounts,  except  in  the  im- 
pregnable case  of  Abraham's  time.  Nevertheless 
the  whole  series  of  biographies  admits  of  the  most 
satisfactory  indications  of  being  veritable  history. 

We  have  (i)  the  weighty  fact  of  the  incorpora- 
tion of  these  personages,  with  varying  distinctness, 
into  all  the  history,  or,  if  one  prefer,  traditions  of 
the  Hebrew  nation ;  (2)  accounts  of  the  environ- 
ments of  these  personages,  proved  to  be  minutely 
accurate ;  (3)  a  series  of  portraitures,  not  only  life- 
like in  the  greatest  diversity,  as  well  as  in  the  traits 
and  inconsistencies  of  the  characters,  but  not  to  be 
accounted  for  except  as  delineations  of  real  life. 

On  the  first  of  these  points,  perhaps  no  more 
needs  to  be  said.  But  it  carries  a  weight  best  ap- 
preciated by  historians.  As  to  the  second,  take 
but  a  specimen  of  the  indubitable  surroundings  in 
which  the  biography  of  Joseph  is  embodied:  a 
petted  and  therefore  hated  brother,  finding  his  way 
to  a  pasture-ground, still  fertile;  rescued  from  death 
by  being  hidden  in  a  pit  where  rock-hewn  pits  are 
3'et  numerous,  near  the  great  caravan  road  to 
Egypt ;  conveyed  thither  by  a  band  of  itinerants 
carrying  to  that  country  well-known  articles  of 
traffic  ;  gradually  rising  to  power  in  a  mode  not  rare 
in  despotism,  whether  ancient  Rome,  France  of 
the  middle  ages,  or  modern  Turkey,  all  the  while 
in  contact  with  local  customs,  which  it  requires  of 
Ebers  twenty  closely-printed  columns  to  point  out  ;^ 

2  Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  2nd  ed,,  article  "Joseph."  ' 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY  HI 

embalmed  at  his  death,  and  in  after  years  carried 
by  the  great  host  to  be  buried  in  the  place  which 
his  father  had  bought  for  an  hundred  pieces  of  silver, 
where  his  tomb  is  held  in  reverence  to  the  present 
day ; — what  is  there  in  this  simple  and  consistent 
story,  even  if  it  stood  alone,  to  awaken  an  instant's 
doubt  or  suspicion  ?  The  other  lives  also  are  en- 
veloped, though  less  abundantl}',  in  the  atmosphere 
of  contemporary  fact. 

Take  an  instance  so  incidental  as  to  attract  no 
notice.  When  Jacob  and  Laban  made  a  covenant 
and  raised  a  stone  heap,  Laban  named  it  Jegar-saha- 
dutha,  but  Jacob  called  it  Galeed,  both  names  mean- 
ing "heap  of  witness,"  the  first  in  Aramean,  the 
second  in  Hebrew  (Gen.  xxxi.  47,  48).  Not  only 
do  the  diverse  vernaculars  of  the  two  men  thus  ap- 
pear, but,  as  Knobel  and  Dillmann  remark,  "the 
situation  of  the  place  at  the  boundary  seems  to  have 
occasioned  the  double  naming.  For  north  of  Gilead 
dwelt  in  part  Aramean-speaking  races  (xxii.  14), 
but  in  the  southern  part  of  the  land  east  of  the  Jor- 
dan such  races  cannot  be  shown  till  a  later  date." 
Also  in  corroboration  of  the  fact  that  Hebrew  was 
the  early  tongue  of  Palestine,  the  Tell  Amarna  let- 
ters from  Phenicia  give  here  and  there  a  Canaan- 
itish  word  by  the  side  of  its  Ass3Tian  equivalent. 
These  (as  well  as  certain  Hebrew  inflections  occur- 
ring in  the  letters)  afford  fresh  indications  that  He- 
brew was  originally  "the  language  of  Canaan."^ 

3  Records  of  the  Past,  New  Series,  vi.,  p.  47.  An  instance  occurs  on  p.  73 
of  a  Hebrew  explanatory  word.  Similar  instances  are  found  in  Vol.  v.,  pp. 
75,  76,  81,  and  elsewhere. 


112  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

When  we  pass  from  the  environments  to  the  char- 
acters themselves,  the  impression  of  reality  and 
truth  has  been  made  upon  the  race  down  to  the 
present  time.  The  world  has  accepted  and  admired 
these  life-like  portraits,  and  pronounced  them  gen- 
uine, and  will  not  give  them  up ;  simple,  candid, 
direct,  unsparing,  delicate  in  their  shadings,  strik- 
ing in  their  variety  and  their  contrasts,  and  human 
in  every  aspect,  even  in  their  inconsistencies.  The 
romancer  has  not  drawn  such  characters.  They 
are  Shakespearean  in  their  variety,  but  some  of 
them  are  beyond  what  Shakespeare  has  portrayed. 

The  narrative  contains  never  a  word  of  admira- 
iton  or  depreciation.  It  casts  over  all  a  pure,  "dry 
light."  It  records  events  in  their  histories  without 
comment.  It  supports  no  theories  and  takes  no 
sides,  except  always  for  the  right.  It  has  no  men 
whose  faults  it  is  bound  to  hide,  nor  any  whose 
virtues  it  is  bound  to  conceal.  Thus  in  the  deal- 
ings of  Abraham  and  Abimelech,the  latter  appears 
to  advantage.  By  nature  Esau  is  a  more  attractive 
character  in  some  respects  than  Jacob.  In  the  diffi- 
culty between  Sarah  and  Hagar,  Sarah's  magna- 
nimity is  not  forthcoming.  In  the  arrangements 
between  the  sons  of  Jacob  and  the  Shechemites,  the 
comparative  honor  of  the  latter  and  the  infamy  of 
the  former  are  plainly  told.  Rachel,  the  favorite 
wife  of  Jacob,  obtains  no  special  favoritism  at  the 
historian's  hands.  The  beloved  Joseph,  though 
occupying  so  large  a  space  m  the  lifetime  of  his 
family,  loses  his  prominence  in  the  subsequent  his- 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY  US 

tory  of  the  nation,  and  Benjamin  still  more,  while 
Levi  is  marked  for  his  cruelty  in  the  affair  of  She- 
chem  ;  and  Judah's  profligacy  in  the  case  of  Tamar, 
ancestor  of  Christ  though  he  was,  is  fully  recorded. 

Noah,  so  great  and  strong  as  to  stand  out  against 
the  corruption  of  the  whole  world,  and  for  long 
years  to  hold  on  his  work  of  obedience  to  God  and 
of  preparation  for  a  catastrophe  of  which  no  sign 
had  appeared,  yet  afterwards  falls  a  victim  to  the 
intoxicating  cup  he  himself  had  prepared,  and  dis- 
graces himself  before  his  children.  But  he  recovers 
himself,  and  utters  a  prophecy  of  remarkable  ful- 
fillment. 

What  a  magnificent  character  is  presented  in 
Abraham,  "the  friend  of  God'M — the  man  who  at 
the  call  of  God  "went  out,  not  knowing  whither  he 
went,"  a  model  of  faith  to  the  end  of  the  world; 
the  associate  of  princes ;  the  man  of  peace  and  con- 
cession, and  for  once  only  the  fighting  hero ;  the 
conciliatory  husband  and  careful  father;  moving 
among  the  tribes  and  nations  with  dignity  and 
power ;  by  migration  from  Ur  to  Canaan  changing 
the  destiny  of  the  world ;  yet  not  so  immaculate  but 
that  twice  at  least  he  gave  way  to  fear  and  equivo- 
cation, though  even  then  under  the  strain  of  his  con- 
jugal affections.  And  what  a  thoroughly  and  touch- 
ingly  human  episode  is  that  of  Sarah,  Hagar  and 
Ishmael !  And  what  a  startling  and  well-nigh  in- 
comprehensible side-narrative  is  that  of  Lot !  Who 
ever  invented  such  a  story?  And  where  in  all  lit- 
erature or  history  a  more  telling  stroke  in  one  word 


114  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

than  the  portraiture  of  Ishmael  and  his  race  in  Gene- 
sis xvi.  12,  "He  shall  be  a  wild  ass  of  a  man"?* — a 
picture  which  has  held  good  for  more  than  three 
thousand  years,  of  which  we  may  well  ask.  Is  it 
not  something  more  than  history  narrated,  even 
history  anticipated? 

In  marked  but  life-like  contrast  is  Abraham's  son 
Isaac ;  a  simple,  peace-loving  shepherd,  meditative 
and  devout,  leaving  his  father  to  manage  his  affairs ; 
imitative  of  his  father's  faults;  mourning  for  his 
mother ;  captivated  by  his  dashing  Esau ;  planning 
for  the  family  succession,  but  baffled  by  his  schem- 
ing wife;  astounded  at  his  mistake,  then  quietly 
accepting  the  plain  will  of  God. 

The  character  and  career  of  Jacob  is  equally 
unique :  versatile,  unfaltering  and  successful,  timid 
but  resolute,  dreading  yet  meeting  responsibilities ; 
shrinking  from  open  fraud,  yet  yielding  to  his  im- 
perious mother;  seemingly  absorbed  in  selfish 
schemes,  yet  terribly  intense  in  his  attachments; 
ever  a  man  of  peace,  but  steadily  embroiled  in 
troubles ;  beginning  life  laden  with  Jewish  craft, 
and  maturing  and  mellowing  at  last  into  a  venera- 
ble presence  as  he  stands  before  Pharaoh,  and  a 
saint  and  prophet  at  the  close  of  life.  Can  any- 
thing be  more  realistic  than  many  of  the  incidents 
of  this  histor}^  such  as  the  fraudulent  procurement 
of  the  blessing,  the  flight  from  Padan-aram  and  in- 
terview with  Laban  when  overtaken,  and  the  en- 

4  So  Ewald,  Kalisch,  Knobel,  Dillmann,  Strack.  Rosennueller  had  ren- 
dered still  more  closely,  "onager  homo,"  a  wild-ass  man.  The  Revisers  render, 
a  wild  ass  among  men. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY  U5 

counter  with  Esau  on  the  way  ?  So  also  the  diverse 
traits  and  conduct  of  his  several  children  would  in- 
vite careful  study  were  they  found  in  some  old  sec- 
ular story. 

What  an  unmistakable  verity  is  the  picture  of 
Jacob  and  Esau,  in  their  strong  contrast  of  charac- 
ter and  destiny!  The  one  draws  and  holds  our 
sympathy  by  his  very  impulsiveness,  frankness  and 
heedlessness ;  and  we  pity  and  lament  his  folly  and 
his  failures.  But  he  is  fitful  and  passionate  and  void 
of  principle  and  of  purpose,  as  bitter  in  his  hate  as 
in  his  grief,  as  hasty  to  threaten  death  as  to  forgive 
and  to  forget. 

Still  more  striking  in  its  diversity  from  the  other 
lives,  and  we  might  say  from  all  other  lives,  is  the 
history  of  Joseph.  Here  is  a  colorless  account  of 
a  beautiful  character,  without  a  tinge  of  insipidity ; 
a  child-like  boy,  petted  but  not  spoiled ;  a  manl}' 
man,  trusted  and  always  true ;  a  loving  son,  a  cau- 
tious and  forgiving  brother;  a  kidnapped  youth 
making  his  way  by  force  of  character  to  the  stew- 
ardship of  a  great  house ;  a  prisoner  on  false  charges, 
emerging  ultimately  by  the  favor  of  Providence  to 
be  the  virtual  head  of  the  kingdom,  and  a  states- 
man equal  to  unequaled  emergencies;  the  savior 
of  his  father's  family  and  race;  the  old  man  with 
his  great-grandchildren  at  his  knees;  the  patriot 
claiming  a  burial  in  his  native  land.  Interspersed 
in  the  narrative  are  transactions  simply  related, 
such  as  the  grief  of  the  father,  and  the  interview 
with  the  brethren,  which  have  long  been  recognized 


nt  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

as  among  the  most  pathetic  and  life-like  in  the  whole 
circle  of  literature.  And  the  entire  history,  as  al- 
ready remarked,  is  embedded  in  a  solid  basis  of 
Egyptian  history  impervious  to  the  minutest  hostile 
criticism,  so  that  nothing  is  wanting  to  the  entire 
verisimilitude/ 

Waiving  now  all  consideration  of  the  exact  de- 
tails of  custom  and  environment,  and  fixing  our  at- 
tention on  these  several  characters  in  their  wide 
variety  and  striking  qualities,  we  may  well  ask  for 
the  production  of  any  known,  probable  or  conjec- 
tural individual,  living  from  five  hundred  to  a  thou- 
sand years  later — or  at  any  other  period  of  Jewish 
history — who  was  capable  of  inventing  such  person- 
ages, or  of  describing  them  except  as  he  drew  from 
real  life.  The  matter  appeals  to  the  tribunals  of 
letters  and  of  sound  judgment  alike. 

But  in  regard  to  the  period  of  history  in  which 
Abraham,  the  earliest  of  these  patriarchs  (except 
Noah),  bears  a  part,  as  contained  in  the  fourteenth 
chapter  of  Genesis,  a  good  Providence  has  within 
the  last  few  years  brought  extraordinary  confirma- 
tions, though  the  great  and  independent  scholar, 
Ewald,  more  than  fifty  years  ago  had  the  sagacity 
to  recognize  its  "inestimable  value  to  the  historian," 
and  to  regard  the  whole  piece  as  "written  prior  to 
Moses.  "^  Such  Germans  as  Noeldeke,  Hitzig  and 
Hilgenfeld  ventured  to   pronounce  it  an  invention 

5  Yet  in  Kantzsch's  German  translation  the  story  of  Joseph  is  referred  to 
J,  E,  TE,  R,  and  P,  extending  from  the  gth  to  the  5th  century  B.  C.  or  later. 
It  is  dissected  into  some  ninety  fragments,  twenty-two  of  which,  if  we  have 
counted  rightly,  occur  in  one  chapter  (xxxvii.)  of  35  verses. 

6  History  of  Israel,  I.,  pp.  301,  52,  Eng.  Trans. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY  117 

for  the  glorification  of  Abraham ;  and  Kuenen,  not 
to  be  outdone,  asserts  it  to  be  "of  very  recent  date," 
with  three  names  and  places  changed  into  men,  the 
previous  inhabitants  of  the  trans-Jordan  district 
"adopted"  from  Deuteronomy,  and  verses  18-20 
"intended  to  glorif3Mhe  priesthood  and  to  justify 
their  claiming  of  tithes,'"  These  airy  dogmatisms 
appear  now  to  be  effectually  extinguished  beneath 
the  weight  of  rock-cut  inscriptions.  Doubt  was 
formerly  expressed  that  at  so  early  a  period  the  mon- 
archs  of  the  Euphrates  region  had  pushed  west  as 
far  as  Palestine.  These  doubts  have  been  set  at 
rest.  Not  only  do  the  Tell  Amarna  letters,  writ- 
ten in  the  Babylonian- Assyrian  script,  from  Tyre, 
Sidon,  Beirut,  Jerusalem,  Askelon,  Hazor,  Mak- 
kedah,  Lachish,  Accho,  and  numerous  other  places 
throughout  and  around  Palestine  about  1450  B.  C, 
prove  the  already  long  established  influence  of  the 
oriental  monarchies  in  the  region  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, but  Ammisatana,  king  of  Babylon  (from 
about  2115  to  2090  B.  C.),®  proclaimed  himself  as 
king  also  of  Martu  (the  west-land  or  Mediterra- 
nean coast)  f  and  quite  recently  discovered  inscrip- 
tions show  that  Sargon  I.  (assigned  to  about  3800  B. 
C.)  made  several  expeditions  not  only  to  the  Medi- 
terranean coast  but  to  the  island  of  Cyprus,  where 
seals  bearing  the  name  of  his  son  Naramsin  have 
been  found.     According  to  Mr.  Boscawen,  the  son 

7  The  Hexateuch,  p.  324. 

8  Sayce  gives  the  date  2241-2216  B.  C.  (The  Higher  Criticism,  etc.,  p.  163). 

9  Records  of  the  Past,  New  Series,  V.,  p.  103.  Schrader  (Keilinschriften, 
p.  136)  says  that  Kudur  Mabag  took  the  same  title;  so  also  say  Sayce,  Strack 
and  Fried.  Delitzsch. 


U8  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

and  successor  even  pushed  his  way  till  he  took 
possession  of  the  mines  in  the  Sinaitic  peninsula, 
whence  he  was  driven  out  by  Snefru  of  Egypt/*' 
whose  name  may  be  still  seen  carved  above  the  en- 
trance of  the  old  mine  in  Wady  Maghara,  some  3,- 
700  years  before  Christ,  as  commonly  reckoned. 
The  localities  of  the  eastern  kings  are  satisfactorily 
ascertained,  in  three  instances  at  least.  Shinar  is 
Sumer,the  region  of  Babylonia, including  Babylon; 
Elam  the  mountainous  region  to  the  east  of  Babylon  ; 
Ellasar  probably  Larsa,  represented  now  by  the 
ruins  of  Senkereh.  The  word  "nations"  (Goiim, 
R.  V.)  is  now  commonly  regarded  as  a  proper 
name  designating  the  Guti  or  Kuti  of  the  inscrip- 
tions, situated  to  the  northeast  of  Babylon.  ^^ 

Light  has  been  steadily  cast  upon  the  personnel 
and  relations  of  these  kings,  growing  clearer  to  the 
present  time.  Some  years  ago  Schrader  pronounced 
Arioch  to  be  unquestionably  the  same  as  Iriarku, 
king  of  Larsa,  and  son  of  Kurdur-mabug,  king  of 
Sumer  and  Akkad,^"and  the  identification  has  been 
accepted.  Arioch  and  two  others  appear  to  be  the 
allies  and  subordinates  of  Chedorlaomer,  the  head 
of  the   expedition.      Now  an  inscription  of   Assur- 

10  Boscaweii's  The  Bible  and  the  Monuments,  pp.  24,  25.  Sayce  says  four 
expeditions,  which  appears  to  be  Boscawen's  account. 

11  It  inaj?  be  added  that  three  such  oriental  experts  as  Schrader,  Halevy 
and  Friedrich  Delitzsch  since  1887  have  held  to  the  identity  of  Amraphel  with 
the  great  Khammurabi,  or  Ammurabi  (about  .2100  B.  C).  The  suggestion 
supposes  a  change  having  taken  place  in  the  final  1.  Dillraann  and  Strack 
cite  the  opinion  without  protest,  and  Friedrich  Delitzsch  says  (Delitzsch's 
Genesis,  p.  525)  it  "rests  on  no  feeble  foot."  Prof.  Lyon  (Bib.  World,  June, 
1896,  p.  431)  remarks  that  the  form  is  in  its  first  syllables  in  keeping  with  that 
of  Ammisatana  and  Ammisaduga  of  the  same  dynasty,  while  no  subsequent 
ruler  for  368  years  has  a  name  beginning  thus.  He  c-ills  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  difference  between  the  Hebrew  Amraphel  and  the  Assyrian  Ammu- 
rabi is  not  greater  than  between  Nebuchadrezzar  and  Nabium-Kuduri-uzur. 

12  Keilinschriften,  p.  135. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY  U9 

banipal,    king  of   Assyria,  records  a  conquest  of 
Babylonia  by  the  Elamites  about  2280  B.  C,  that 
is,  before  the  time  of  the  expedition.'^    The  names 
of  three  of  the  kings  until  quite  recently  had  not 
been  found.      An  approximation  or  analogy  to  the 
name  Chedorlaomer  was  found  in  three  royal  names 
beginning  with  Chedor  [Kiidttr  in  the  Assyrian). 
But  in  January,  1896,  Mr.   Pinches,  of  the  British 
Museum,  read  to  the  Victoria  Institute  a  paper  in 
which  he  mentions  having  found  on  some  mutilated 
cuneiform  tablets  in  that  museum  the  names  Kud- 
urlachgumal,    Eriakua,    and    Tudchula,   which  he 
identifies  with  Chedorlaomer,   Arioch  and  Tidal, 
the  first  of  them  being  called  "king  of  Elam,"  as 
is    Chedorlaomer.'*    The  names  of  the  Canaanite 
kings  there  are,  of  course,  no  inscriptions  to  verify; 
but  the  narrative  conforms  to  what  appears  in  the 
Tell  Amarna  letters,  in  that  each  was  sovereign  of 

a  city. 

We  can  follow  the  course  of  the  invasion  in  gen- 
eral and  to  some  degree  in  detail.  Crossing  the 
Euphrates  probably  by  the  customary  northern 
route,  they  moved  southward,  east  of  the  Jordan, 
to  Ashteroth  Karnaim  (Tell  Ashtarah),  which  Thoth- 
mes  III.  had  already  found  and  taken, '^  Kiriathaim 
(Kureyat),  past  Mount  Seir,  to"ElParan  by  the 
wilderness"  (the  border  of  the  desert  of  et  Tih), 
and  most  likely  to  Elath  (or  Ailah),  at  the  head  of 
theGulTof^jcaba.     On  the  return  they  are  founj 

~i3  Tomkins'  Life  and  Times  of  Abraham,  p.  176. 

T4  Cited  by  Prof.  Lyon,  Biblical  World.  June.  1896,  p.  4?i.     Mentioned  also 
by  Sayce,  London  Academy.  September  7.  I095- 

15  Records  of  the  Past,  V.,  p.  45- 


120  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

at  Kadesh  (Ain  Gadis),  next  at  Engedi,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Having  surrounded  and 
isolated  the  five  native  kings,  the  battle  is  joined  in 
a  region  of"  bitumen  pits" — bitumen  having  abound- 
ed both  in  ancient  and  in  modern  times  on  the  shores 
and  at  times  on  the  waters  of  the  Dead  Sea.  After 
plundering  the  wealthy  cities  that  lay  near  the  great 
north  and  south  caravan  road,  they  took  the  west 
side  route  to  the  neighborhood  of  Dan.  While 
they  lay  here  in  the  fancied  security  of  old  oriental 
armies  after  a  victory,  but  visible  from  the  southern 
headlands,"^  Abraham  attacks  them  with  his  smaller 
band,  not  in  open  fight,  but  by  a  night  surprise, 
and  pursues  them  towards,  but  not  to,  Damascus. 
He  is  met  on  his  return  by  the  king  of  Salem. 
This  part  of  the  narrative  has  been  questioned. 
But  since  the  year  1887  not  less  than  six  letters 
have  been  given  to  the  world  written  by  the  king 
of  "Urusalim,"  showing  that  before  the  conquest 
of  Palestine  by  the  Israelites  Jerusalem  was  gov- 
erned by  a  king  (as  we  read  in  Joshua),  that  it  bore 
the  name  of  which  Salem  is  a  part,  and  that  the 
usual  explanation,  '^city  of  oeace,"  is  a  probable 
one.'^ 

In  the  historic  facts  incorporated  into  this  nar- 
rative it  thus  stands  thoroughly  confirmed,  as  far  as 
tests  can  be  applied,  while  the  movements  described 
are  in  entire  consistency  with  each  other  and  with 
the   known   conditions.      So  minute   is  this  corre- 

16  Thomson's  The  Land  and  the  Book,  ii.,  p.  553. 

17  Gender's  Tell  Ainarna  Letters,  p.  147  It  is  not  safe  to  follow  Conder  in 
identifying  the  Khabiri  -.vith  Fli^brews,  nor  Sayce  in  thinking  th^m  "r'n- 
f<!.:erates."  The  striking  vic.vr,  exj-.rejst'd  by  the  latter  concernir.j',  the  kii;;^ 
of  Jerusalem  appear  to  netd  confirmation. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY  121 

spondence  that  Mr.  Tomkins  has  shown  with  much 
probability  that  at  the  first  invasion  by  Chedorlao- 
mer,  fourteen  years  before  the  second,  Abraham 
"must  have  been  dwelling  at  Haran  when  this 
great  motley  array  of  the  four  eastern  kings  drew 
its  march  through  Haran  on  its  way  to  conquest ; 
and  again  returning  with  spoils  and  captives  to 
Chaldea  and  to  Elam.  So  that  Abraham  had  very 
probably  set  eyes  on  Chedorlaomer  some  fourteen 
years  before  he  found  himself  in  arms  against  him.'"^ 
And  the  very  words  used  in  the  Hebrew  for  "bitu- 
men pits"  Dr.  Thompson  found  in  use  to  designate 
the  numerous  wells  of  bitumen  in  the  chalky  marl 
at  Ed  Daher  south  of  Lebanon,  namely,  biuret  hum- 
mar  in  the  cognate  Arabic  tongue.  ^^ 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  the  narrative  exhibits 
some  unobtrusive  tokens  of  antiquity ;  giving  in 
connection  with  old  names  (in  one  instance,  of  a  per- 
ished cit}')  equivalent  names,  apparently  older: 
"Bela,  the  same  is  Zoar"  (twice) ;  "the  vale  of  Sid- 
dim,  which  is  the  Salt  Sea";  "En  Mishpat,  the 
same  is  Kadesh."  In  one  instance  only  the  older 
name  is  given,  namely  Hazezon  Tamar,  as  though 
the  narrative  might  be  older  than  the  name  En- 
gedi.  Other  peculiarities  are  noticeable,  such  as 
the  term  Hebrew  applied  to  Abraham,  and  the 
word  for  "trained  men,"  which  is  not  found  else- 
where. ^'^ 

i8  Life  and  Times  of  Abraham,  p.  184. 

19  The  Land  and  the  Book,  ii.,  p.  527. 

20  The  name  "Dan"  in  the  narrative  is  easily  accounted  for,  as  a  name  so 
noted  that  it  took  the  place  of  Laish,  the  latter  being  entirely  dropped  in  the 
copying,  as  unnecessary,  even  if  originally  added  as  a  synonym:  just  as  "the 
Fork"  and  "Duquesne"  were  merged  in  Pittsburg,  and   the   Indian  name 


122  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

But  whatever  may  be  the  age  of  this  part  of  the 
narrative,  it  shows  a  contemporaneous  knowledge  of 
historic  persons,  facts  and  situations  that  cannot  be 
shaken,  and  proves  it  to  be  a  trustworthy  statement. 

Here  we  have  reached  a  point  nearly  two  thou- 
sand years  before  Christ,  in  a  test  question,  vigor- 
ously disputed,  where  our  narrative  rests  on  an 
impregnable  historic  basis.  The  narrative  deals 
too,  with  actual  personages  throughout,  as  well  as 
historic  events ;  and  by  these  tokens,  together  with 
its  inherent  consistency  and  its  conformity  to  all 
local  requirements,  takes  away  the  last  shadow  of 
excuse  for  dismissing  Abraham  as  "a  free  creation 
of  unconscious  art,"^^  or  resolving  him  into  "an 
epoch,  a  race  or  order  of  men  or  a  roving  social 
environment,"^^  or  for  viewing  him  as  other  than  he 
is  described  in  the  simplest  mode,  a  magnificent 
personage,  in  close  communion  with  God,  thus  mov- 
ing majestically  among  his  contemporaries,  setting 
an  example  of  faith  for  all  time,  and  leading  off  an 
undying  movement  in  the  world's  history. 

In  ascending  the  line  of  the  Scripture  narrative, 
we  recede  farther  and  farther  from  the  domain  of 
secular  chronicles,  and  can  test  the  accounts,  aside 
from  their  aspect  of  honesty  and  candor,  only  b}' 
their  conformity,  general  or  special,  to  such  frag- 
ments of  outside  knowledge  and  such  traditions  as 
can  be  brought  into  the  comparison. 

Shawmut  and  the  English  name  Tri mountain  were  lost  from  the  7th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1630,  when  the  Court  of  Assistants  "ordered  that  Trimountain  be 
palled  Boston." 

21  Wellhausen,  Histoiy  of  Israel,  Eng.  Trans.,  p.  320. 

22  There  is  an  appearance  of  yielding  to  this  unsupported  view  in  Mc- 
Curdy's  History,  Prophecy  and  the  Monuments,  ii.,  pp.  89,90,  although  some- 
what indistinct  and  possibly  not  intended. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY  123 

That  Abraham  was  buried  in  Hebron,  and  that 
his  remains  were  deposited  in  a  cave  beneath  the 
present  strange  edifice,  the  Haram  with  its  enclosed 
mosque,  is  the  united  tradition  of  Jews,  Christians 
and  Mohammedans,  the  latter  of  whom  hold  the 
place  in  such  reverence  that  only  royal  authority 
or  influence  has  secured  admission  within  the  build- 
ing. The  present  edifice  is  assigned  (from  its  style 
of  masonry)  to  the  Herodian  age  at  least,  and  it  is 
known  that  there  is  a  cave  beneath  it ;  and  travelers 
from  Robinson  to  Conder  have  been  satisfied  of  the 
truth  of  the  tradition.  The  present  structure  may 
very  well  be  the  successor  of  former  ones,  inasmuch 
as  Josephus  relates  that  the  sepulchers  of  Abraham 
and  his  descendants  were  built  in  Hebron,  and  that 
their  monuments  of  excellent  marble  were  to  be 
seen  in  his  day  in  Hebron.  ^^  It  is  a  curious  fact, 
however  it  may  be  accounted  for,  that  whereas 
Abraham  came  originally  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees, 
there  is  an  old  temple  in  the  ruins  of  that  ancient 
city  (now  Mugheir)  the  length  of  which,  as  given 
by  Loftus,  is  198  feet,^*  while  the  length  of  the 
Haram  in  Hebron, as  given  by  Conder,  is  198  feet.-' 
The  width,  however,  is  not  the  same ;  that  of  the 
former  being  133,  of  the  latter  112  feet. 

When  the  Speaker's  Commenary  on  Genesis  was 
published  (187 1),  opinion  was  divided  whether  to 
find  Ur,  the  early  home  of  Abraham,  at  Mugheir 
in  southern  Babylonia,  or  at  Urfa,  about  600  miles 

23  Jewish  Wars,  iv.,  9,  7. 

24  Travels  in  Caldea,  p.  129. 

25  Tent  Work  in  Palestine,  ii.,  p.  81. 


124  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

northwest  of  it.  The  former  is  now  accepted  by 
nearly  all  Assyriologists  and  most  expositors — with 
an  occasional  dissent,  as  that  of  Strack.  Here  are 
ruins  of  a  very  ancient  city,  among  which  the  most 
noteworth}'  things  are  a  great  temple  of  the  moon- 
god,  and  the  immense  number  of  tombs  in  and 
around  the  extensive  ruins.  It  is  one  of  the  great- 
est burial  places  known;  and  it  is  thought  that, 
perhaps  for  its  supposed  sanctity, the  dead  were  for 
many  centuries  brought  there  for  burial.  It  is 
proved  to  have  had  as  early  as  Abraham's  time  a 
varied  and  extensive  literature. ^^  The  annals  of 
Assurbanipal  show  that  Babylonia  had  been  overrun 
by  the  Elamites  in  2280  B.  C,  and  most  of  the  in- 
scriptions of  Kudur-mabuk  and  Eriarku  of  Larsa 
have  been  found  at  Mugheir.  Whether  or  not  there 
is  weight  in  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Tomkins  that 
the  conquest  may  have  been  adverse  to  the  house 
of  Terah,  and  that  "when  Abraham  assailed  the 
eastern  forces  to  rescue  Lot,  he  was  probably  en- 
countering an  old  enemy  of  his  house  and  people,""^ 
it  is  not  difficult  to  discover  a  reason  for  the  selection 
of  Haran  as  the  place  of  migration.  It  was  not 
only  the  crossing-point  of  the  Syrian,  Assyrian  and 
Babylonian  trade  routes,  but,  like  Mugheir,  it  had  a 
great  temple  of  the  moon-god,  indicating  a  close  alli- 
ance between  the  two  places,  and  thus  the  most  nat- 
ural and  home-like  resort.  In  this  connection,  also, 
it  is  not  to  b;^  overlooked  that  Abraham  left  Haran 

26  See  Smith's  Caldean  Genesis,  p.  25,  and  Sayce's  Ancient  Empires  of 
the  East,  p   167  seq. 

7.7  Tomkins'  Life  and  Times,  p.  200,  and  Boscawen's  Bible  and  Monu- 
ments, p.  25. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY  125 

for  Palestine  with  gathered  "substance" and  " souls" 
or  persons,  and  that  in  Palestine  he  was  able  to 
muster  three  hundred  and  eighteen  trained  men,  or 
fighting  retainers,  implying  a  wealth  and  standing 
on  which  the  hand  of  the  conqueror  might  have  lain 
heavily.  Yet  even  if  such  a  secular  motive  might 
have  influenced  Terah,  a  far  higher  motive  impelled 
Abraham. 

He  went  from  a  land  where  they  "served  other 
gods"  (Gen.  xxxi.  30;  Josh.  xxiv.  2),  as  is  abun- 
dantly shown  by  the  temples  and  inscriptions  of 
Chaldea  from  the  earliest  times.  Assurbanipal 
records  how  the  early  monarch  Kudur-nankundi 
worshiped  "the  great  gods";  Urukh  founded  a 
temple  of  the  sun  at  Larsa,  a  temple  to  Ishtar  at 
Erech,  a  temple  to  Bel  and  another  to  Beltis  at 
Nippur,  and  at  Zirgulla  a  temple  to  Sarili,  the  "king 
of  the  gods."  At  Mugheir  and  at  Haran,  as  al- 
ready mentioned,  there  were  great  temples  to  the 
moon-god. ^^ 

The  early  civilization  and  culture  in  and  around 
Ur  in  Abraham's  time  are  proved  to  have  been 
such  as  would  explain  such  a  development  as  his. 
As  a  specimen  even  of  business  methods  Boscawen 
quotes  a  mortgage  deed  which  reads  thus:  "Con- 
cerning the  loan  of  his  silver  (money)  he  places  for 
security  a  house,  field,  garden,  man-servant  and 
maid-servant;"  and  he  inquires,  "With  such  care- 
fully drawn  deeds  in  use  before  he  (Abraham)  left 
his  Chaldean  home,  is  it  any  wonder  that  the  trans- 

28  Records  of  the  Past,  iii.,  pp.  8,  9. 


126  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

action  of  the  purchase  of  the  cave  of  Machpelah  is 
carried  out  with  such  commercial  accuracy  ?"^^  His 
Scripture  environments  are  found  to  be  true  to  the 
times. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  him,  as  may  be  done 
easily  in  the  main,  on  his  way  through  Canaan,  ex- 
cept to  suggest  that  crossing  the  Euphrates  at  the 
usual  place  or  places  nearly  west  of  Haran,  his 
journey  would  be  by  the  neighborhood  of  Damas- 
cus, and  thus  perhaps  account  for  his  having  later 
as  a  steward  of  his  house  Eliezer  of  Damascus 
(Gen.  XV.  2).  The  historic  correspondence  of  the 
condition  of  Egypt  at  the  time  with  the  implications 
and  statements  of  the  narrative,  has  been  sufficiently 
indicated  already. 

Ascending  still  higher,  we  find  the  same  congru- 
ity  with  all  ascertained  facts ;  as  in  connection  with 
Babel  and  the  dispersion.  The  land  Shinar  is 
found  in  the  ancient  Sumer,  lower  Mesopotamia. 
The  building  material  is  not  the  stone  and  mortar 
of  Egypt  nor  its  sun-dried  bricks,  but  burnt  brick 
cemented  with  bitumen.  Now  while  it  might  easily 
be  said  that  a  later  writer  in  Babylonia  would  have 
been  aware  that  bitumen  occurs  in  that  region,  as 
at  Hit  or  Is,  and  at  Nimrud  (near  Mosul),  and  that 
Birs  Nimrud  and  the  temple  at  Mugheir  are  in  part 
built  of  burnt  brick  and  bitumen,  the  sacred  writer 
is  also  aware  that  in  Egypt  they  built  with  '^  stone 
and  mortar"  (Gen.  xi.  3).  He  has  definite  knowl- 
edge, and  makes  no  mistakes.     The  Hebrew  nar- 

29  The  Bible  and  the  Monuments,  p.  95. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY  127 

rative  contains  verbal  reminders  of  the  region.  The 
words  "brick"  and  "make  brick"  are  the  same  in 
the  Hebrew  as  in  the  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  -^^ 
but  the  process  of  "burning  them  thoroughly"  is  a 
process  almost  never  practiced  in  Egypt  until  Ro- 
man times.  As  to  the  tower  itself,  it  is  hardly  worth 
while  to  look  for  traces  of  a  building  that  was  not 
finished,  although  the  story  is  started  from  time  to 
time  that  such  traces  have  been  found.  There  is, 
however,  a  tradition  in  the  classic  writers,  thus 
stated  by  Ovid :  "They  say  that  the  giants  aspired 
to  the  celestial  kingdom,  and  that  they  heaped  up 
the  lofty  mountains  to  the  stars.  Then  the  omnipo- 
tent father  hurled  his  thunderbolt,  crashing  through 
Olympus,  and  struck  down  Ossa  piled  on  Pelion."^' 
There  is  also  cited  a  distinct  Babylonish  tradition, 
one  form  of  which  (as  given  by  Abydenus,  prob- 
ably from  Berosus)  reads  that  "the  early  men,  hav- 
ing become  puffed  up  and  having  despised  the  gods, 
undertook  a  lofty  tower  where  Babylon  now  is.  It 
was  already  near  heaven  when  the  winds  came  to 
the  aid  of  the  gods  and  overthrew  the  work  upon 
the  builders.  The  ruins  of  it  are  said  to  be  at 
Babylon.  Hitherto  men  had  been  of  one  tongue, 
but  now  discordant  speech  was  upon  them  from  the 
gods."  In  another  form  (given  by  Alexander  Poly- 
histor  as  from  "the  Sybil")  it  says,  "When  all  men 
spoke  the  same  language,  some  of  them  built  an 
exceeding  high  tower  in  order  to  ascend  into  heaven. 
God,  however,  having  made  winds  to  blow,  thwarted 

30  Schrader,  K.  A.  T.,  p.  121. 

31  Ovid,  Metamorphoses,  i.,  152. 


128  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

them  and  gave  to  each  a  language  of  his  own; 
wherefore  the  city  was  called  Babylon."  The  in- 
dependence of  this  tradition  is  seen,  as  has  been  re- 
marked, in  the  statement  that  the  winds  were  em- 
ployed in  the  work  of  destruction.  Professor  Davis 
of  Princeton  inclines  to  insist  on  this  as  represent- 
ing a  genuine  Babylonian  tradition,  and  that "  its  kin- 
ship with  the  Hebrew  narrative  is  unmistakable.""^' 
Dillmann,  who  thinks  it  not  proved  that  such  a  tra- 
dition was  circulated  in  Babylonia,  still  remarks  that 
"dark  historical  reminiscences  lie  at  the  foundation 
of  the  narrative"  as  a  whole.  ^^  Schrader  also  thinks 
it  cannot  well  be  doubted  that  "the  saga  here  en- 
countered has  rested  upon  a  building  once  actually 
existing,  and  that  it  may  naturally  have  been  only 
one  of  two,  either  the  ruins  called  Babil  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  Euphrates  or  the  remarkable  ruined 
tower  on  the  west  bank,  called  Birs  Nimrud,  still 
rising  154  feet  above  the  level  of  the  plain.  "^^  But 
though  Delitzsch  thinks  it  not  impossible  that  ruins 
of  the  building  or  at  least  traces  of  its  site  should 
have  been  preserved  f"  and  while  it  is  not  impossible, 
as  some  have  suggested,  that  one  of  these  ruins 
may  commemorate  the  site,  the  only  confirmation 
to  be  claimed  for  the  tower  and  its  significance  is 
the  tradition  of  the  battle  with  the  gods.^^ 

32  For  full  details  the  reader  is  referred  to  his  Genesis  and  Senetic  tra- 
ditions (1894). 

33  Commentary  ht  loco. 

34  Keilinschritten,  pp.  121-123. 

35  New  Commentary,  Eng.  trans.,  i.,  p.  353. 

36  George  Smith's  belief  of  a  reference  to  the  building  in  a  Babylonian 
tablet,  though  at  first  approved  by  Sayce,  must  be  given  up  as  not  well 
founded  (ChaldeTn  Genesis,  pp.  163,164).  Nor  can  Nebuchadnezzar's  in- 
scription that  he  had  restored  a  damaged  tower  built  by  a  former  king 
(Records  of  the  Past,  vii.,  p.  71)  be  well  appealed  to  in  evidence. 


THE  PA  TRIA  k  CilA  L  HiS  TOR  Y  129 

But  the  narrative  speaks  also  of  a  dispersion,  and 
names  Sliinar  or  Sumer  as  the  radiating  center. 
That  this  general  region  was  the  point  of  departure 
for  the  race  in  its  dispersion  appears  to  be  now  the 
somewhat  concurrent  opinion  of  various  classes  of 
scientific  men.  It  is  quite  remarkable  what  a  vari- 
ety of  indications  all  point  in  that  direction.  Thus 
from  his  special  point  of  view  Guyot  lays  great  stress 
on  a  consideration  generally  overlooked,  which,  in 
his  own  words,  "has  not  been  sufficiently  insisted 
on,  and  to  which  has  not  been  attributed  the  impor- 
tance it  deserves.  The  fact  is  the  following :  While 
all  the  types  of  animals  and  of  plants  go  on  decreas- 
ing in  perfection,  from  the  equatorial  to  the  polar 
regions,  in  proportion  to  the  temperatures,  man  pre- 
sents to  our  view  his  purest,  his  most  perfect  type 
at  the  very  center  of  Asia-Europe,  in  the  regions 
of  Iran,  of  Armenia,  and  of  the  Caucasus ;  and,  de- 
parting from  this  geographical  center  in  the  three 
grand  directions  of  the  lands,  the  types  gradually 
lose  the  beauty  of  their  forms  in  proportion  to  their 
distance,  even  to  the  extreme  points  of  the  south- 
ern continents,  where  we  find  the  most  deformed 
and  degenerate  races,  and  the  lowest  in  the  scale  of 
humanity."  After  unfolding  the  fact  in  several 
pages  of  detail,  he  inquires,  "Does  not  this  surpris- 
ing coincidence  seem  to  designate  those  Caucasian 
regions  as  the  cradle  of  man,  the  point  of  departure 
for  the  races  of  the  earth  ?"^^  St.  Hilaire  called  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  of  the  domesticated  animals 

37  Guyot,  The  Earth  and  Man,  pp.  254,  262. 


130  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

that  have  accompanied  man,  thirty-five  in  number, 
thirty-one  appear  to  have  originated  in  Central  Asia 
or  Northern  Africa.  Others  have  noted  the  fact 
that  most  of  the  cereals  which  are  used  by  man  have 
had  their  earliest  and  most  congenial,  if  not  their 
native  home,  in  this  general  region. ^*^  "Wheat  is 
found  only  w^here  man  is  found,"  and  while  its  pre- 
cise origin  is  an  open  question,  yet  according  to 
Berosus  wheat,  barley  and  sesame  grew  wild  in 
the  region  of  Babylonia ;  and  it  is  stated  that  wheat 
still  does  so  in  the  neighborhood  of  Anah.^^  Other 
considerations,  linguistic,  historic  and  archaeologi- 
cal, point  in  the  same  direction.  The  field  is  too 
broad  even  for  an  outline  sketch  of  the  whole  argu- 
ment. But  after  a  protracted  discussion  of  its  vari- 
ous branches,  Ebrard  reaches  the  conclusion  that 
"resting  on  purely  physiological,  ethnographical, 
historical  and  linguistic  investigations  is  the  scien- 
tifically certain  fact  that  the  population  of  all  parts 
of  the  earth  has  gone  forth  from  the  west  of  inner 
Asia,  the  Euphrates  region."^''  So  also  Zoeckler, 
as  the  result  of  similar  investigations:  "That  this 
original  seat  (of  the  human  race)  was  situated  east- 
ward of  the  home-land  of  the  book  of  Revelation, 
somewhere  in  southern  Asia,  is  established  by  the 
most  weighty  indications  of  ethnography  and  natural 
science.  Neither  South  Africa  nor  America,  neither 
a  mythical  Atlantis  nor  a  tertiary  Lemuria,  have 
half  so  good  claims  to  be  the  starting  point  of  both 

38  Cited  in  Southall's  Recent  Origin  of  Man,  p.  43. 

39  Sayce,  Ancient  Empires  of  the  East,  p.  96. 

40  Ebrard,  Christian  Apologetics,  iii.,  p.  312. 


THE  PA  TRIA  R  CHA  L  HIS  TOR  V  131 

together,  our  race  and  its  attendant   domestic   ani- 
mals and   cereals,  as   the   territory   limited  by  the 
Euphrates  on  the  west  and  the  Indus  and  Ganges 
on  the  east.""    Quatref ages, while  inclined,  though 
not  with  entire   positiveness,  to  find   the  center  of 
radiation  somewhat  farther  east,  at  the  great  central 
plateau,  concludes  his  statement  by  saying  that  no 
facts  have  yet  been  discovered  which  authorize  us 
to  place  the  cradle  of  the  human  race  elsewhere 
than  in  Asia/'    It  is  also  quite  interesting  to  observe 
how  such  a  writer  as  Lefevre,  who  avowedly  dis- 
carded the  guidance  of  "the  Hebrew  Bible"  in  this 
matter,  yet  approximates  to  its  position.     For  he 
concludes  that  the  American  races  came  from  Asia ; 
dwells  on  the   fundamental   identity   between    the 
languages  of  rival   nations,  separated  by  manners, 
aspirations  and  distance ;  emphasizes  the  fact  that 
the  Aryan  races,  spread  from  Iceland  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Ganges  and  from  Sweden  to  Crete,  without 
including  the  two  Americas   and   Australia,  "owe 
to  a  single  definite  group,  and  not  to  their  own  in- 
itiative, their  languages,  their   institutions   and  the 
germ  of  their  destiny."     He  avoids  naming  a  defi- 
nite center  of  radiation  for  the  various  nations,  but 
he  reaches  a  stage  where,  "from  the  eastern  slope 
of  the  great  Asiatic  plateaus,  the  ancestors  of  the 
Chinese  descended  their  rivers,  the   Blue  and  the 
Yellow,  and  two  centers  of  civilization   arose,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Nile  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Eu- 

41  Urstand  des  Menschen,  p.  241.     His  primary   reference  is  to  the  garden 
of  Eden,  but  of  course  it  applies  here. 
4a  The  Human  Species,  p.  178. 


182  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

phrates."*^  His  subsequent  and  detailed  account  of 
the  dispersion  from  the  latter  region  is  in  close  con- 
formity to  the  Scripture  account/*  This  account 
does  unquestionably  explain  most  naturally  a  diver- 
gent movement  of  the  nations  to  the  east  and  south- 
east, northwest,  w^est  and  southwest.  It  would  con- 
form to  the  fact  that  in  general  the  farther  the 
departure  from  the  center,  the  greater  the  growing 
degradation,  except  so  far  as  some  higher  influence 
penetrated  the  seclusion. 

The  exact  process  of  the  confusion  of  tongues, 
recorded  in  this  narrative,  is  obscure  in  the  absence 
of  detailed  information.  It  has  been  perhaps  wisely 
viewed  as  a  precipitation  of  what  would  otherwise 
have  taken  place  in  the  course  of  events,  whereby 
in  their  isolation  from  each  other  the  races  have 
formed  nearly  a  thousand  languages.  On  the  broad 
question  of  one  original  speech  there  are  as  yet  no 
means  of  reaching  an  absolute  decision  outside  of 
this  narrative.  Two  great  families  of  languages 
are  now  universally  recognized,  namely, the  Semitic 
and  the  Aryan  or  Indo-European ;  and  certain  re- 
lationships found  to  exist  between  them.  There  are 
still  wanting  further  investigations,  if  the}'  can  ever 
be  made  satisfactorily,  which  may  decide  the  ques- 
tion of  other  relationships.  Meanwhile  it  is  suffi- 
cient, perhaps,  to  quote  the  conclusion  reached  by 
one  of  the  most  noted  comparative  philologists  of 
this  generation.      Max  Miiller  writes  thus:     "We 

43  Lefevre,  Race  and  Language,  p.  260. 

44  See  note  xv.,  Appendix. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY.  133 

have  examined  all  possible  forms  which  language 
can  assume,  and  we  have  now  to  ask,  can  we  recon- 
cile with  these  three  distinct  forms,  the  radical,  the 
terminational,  the  inflectional,  the  admission  of  one 
common  origin  of  human  speech?  I  answer  de- 
cidedly, Yes."*'  Bunsen,with  his  multifarious  learn- 
ing, had  already  said:  "Comparative  philology 
would  have  been  compelled  to  set  forth  as  a  postu- 
late some  such  division  of  languages  in  Asia  if  the 
Bible  had  not  preserved  to  us  this  great,  true,  his- 
toric event."*'  And  still  earlier  Alexander  von 
Humboldt,  who  had  no  reference  to  the  Bible,  at 
the  close  of  his  long  life  had  made  the  suggestion 
that  the  comparative  study  of  the  languages  "may 
lead  to  a  generalization  of  views  regarding  the  affin- 
ity of  the  races,  and  their  conjectural  extension 
from  one  common  foint  of  radiationy^"'  While 
therefore  we  can  appeal  to  no  contemporary  history, 
for  the  reason  that  there  is  none,  the  results  of  the 
most  careful  modern  research  tend  strongly  to  cor- 
roborate the  narrative. 

When  we  ascend  one  step  further,  to  the  history 
of  Noah  after  the  departure  from  the  ark,  we  are 
on  similarly  firm  ground.  The  mountains  of  Ara- 
rat, where  the  ark  rested,  are  in  the  Armenian  ter- 
ritory. Noah  was  intoxicated  with  the  wine  which 
he  had  made.  In  that  region  the  vine  is  now,  and 
through  all  historic  times  has  been,  abundant,  thriv- 
ing  in   some   instances  at  a  height  of  4,000    feet 

45  Mueller,  Science  of  Language,  First  Series,  p.  329. 

46  Bunsen,  Bibelwerk,  i.,  p.  30. 

47  Cosmos,  ii.,  pp.  iii,  112. 


134  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

above  the  sea  level.  Here  Xenophon  w^ith  the  ten 
thousand  found  old  and  excellent  wine/^  and  here 
Justin  Perkins,  in  1843,  found  wine,  and  intoxica- 
tion tco,  in  abundance.  It  is  to  be  observed  also 
that  the  narrative  does  not  spare  the  w^eakness  and 
the  shame  of  Noah.  But  it  records  as  well  his  ut- 
terances when  he  "awoke  from  his  wine,"  that  is, 
recovered  from  his  intoxication. 

Though  not  indispensable  to  this  discussion,  it  is 
quite  appropriate  to  call  attention  to  the  remarkable 
anticipation  of  history  in  those  utterances  concern- 
ing Shem,  Ham  and  Japheth.  In  regard  to  the 
first,  it  takes  the  form  of  a  burst  of  praise  :  "Blessed 
be  Jehovah,  God  of  Shem."  That  was  to  be  the 
blessing  of  the  Shemite  race — God  revealed  as  Je- 
hovah to  Abraham  and  his  descendants,  and  through 
them  to  the  world.  Shem  was  to  be  the  depositary 
of  the  revelation.  The  declaration  concerning 
Japheth,  "God  shall  make  wide  room  for  Japheth, " 
has  been  fulfilled  partly  in  the  Persian,  Greek  and 
Roman  expansion,  and  still  more  remarkably  even 
in  later  times,  when  the  great  historic  races  of  the 
world  have  been  and  are  Japhetic  races.  The  ad- 
ditional promise,  "He  (Japheth)*'^  shall  dwell  in  the 
tents  of  Shem,"  easily  means,  shall  share  in  his 
privileges.  Dillmann  would  find  here  the  recep- 
tion of  the  Japhetic  nations  into  the  alliance  of  the 
old  Semitic  nations,  which  may  be  valid  as  far  as 
it  extends,  without  exhausting  the  fullness  of  the 

48  Anabasis,  iv.,  4,  9. 

49  Whatever  the  grammatical  antecedent  in  this  clause,  the  actual  subject 
is  clearly  Japheth,  whose  destiny  is  declared.    So  now  the  best  expositors. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  HISTORY  135 

blessing  imparted  to  Shem.  Delitzsch  adds  well, 
that  it  involves  "the  entrance  of  Japheth  into  the 
kingdom  of  God, which  is  with  Japheth";  an  assur- 
ance which  has  been  signally  fulfilled.  The  an- 
nouncement that  Canaan  (i.  e.,  his  descendants) 
should  be  a  servant  of  servants  both  to  Shem  and 
to  Japheth  was  fulfilled  in  connection  with  Shem 
when  the  Canaanites  were  extirpated  or  reduced  to 
be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  by  the 
Israelites;  and  in  connection  with  Japheth,  as  De- 
litzsch remarks,  ''when  the  Greeks  and  Romans 
overthrew  Tyre  and  Carthage,  after  the  Phenician 
coast  and  colonial  power  had  already  been  broken 
by  the  Assyrians,  Chaldeans  and  Persians.  Hanni- 
bal came  to  feel  this  curse  when  he  beheld  the  head 
of  Asdrubal  thrown  over  the  Punic  entrenchments 
by  the  Romans,  and  exclaimed,  ^Agnoscofortunam 
Cartliag'inis.'  Th^  third  Punic  War  (149-146)  ended 
in  the  total  demolition  of  Carthage,  and  the  inflic- 
tion of  the  curse  upon  its  site" — an  event  which 
changed  the  destinies  of  modern  civilization. 

The  quality  both  of  the  narrative  and  the  utter- 
ance appears  in  the  fact  that  these  announcements 
were  not  arbitrary  but  had  their  foundation  and 
justification  in  the  qualities  of  the  posterity,  already 
foreshadowed  in  their  ancestors.  The  reason  ex- 
pressly involved  in  the  subjugation  of  the  Canaanites 
(in  Gen.  xv.  16)  is  their  "iniquity";  in  regard  to 
which  Lenormant  has  said  that  no  other  nation  has 
rivaled  them  in  the  mixture  of  blood  and  debauch- 
ery with  which  they  thought  to   honor  the  Deity. ^° 

50  Lenormant,  Manual  of  the  Ancient  History  of  the  East,  ii.,  219. 


136  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

The  overthrow  of  Carthage  is  conceded  to  have 
been  the  deliverance  of  the  world  from  its  most 
threatening  danger. 

Dillmann  speaks  thus  of  these  prophecies: 
"Deeply  moved  by  the  transaction,  and  thor- 
oughly discerning  the  nature  of  his  sons,  Noah,  as 
one  controlled  by  a  higher  spirit,  by  virtue  of  his 
paternal  dignity,  solemnly  and  in  lofty  strains  pro- 
nounces upon  them  the  blessing  and  the  curse." 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  TABLE  OF  THE  NATIONS 

Not  the  least  important  portion  of  the  Hexateuch 
for  the  present  purpose  is  the  table  of  the  nations, 
contained  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis.  Al- 
though easily  passed  over  as  a  bald  and  uninterest- 
ing catalogue  of  names,  it  stands  like  a  solid  rock 
foundation  and  proof  of  the  historic  character  of  the 
book.  The  chief  difficulty  in  the  use  of  it  springs 
from  the  extreme  remoteness  of  its  facts,  and  the 
scantiness  of  our  modern  knowledge  to  make  con- 
nection with  it.  No  other  consecutive  history  ex- 
tends back  half-way  towards  its  starting  point. 
The  migrations  and  minglings  of  the  nations,  the 
changes  and  interchanges  of  languages,  and  often 
the  difficulty  of  identifying  a  name  when  transferred 
from  one  tongue  to  another,  largely  embarrass  the 
interpretation.  But  to  whatever  extent,  with  our 
present  and  increasing  resources,  we  can  put  it  to 
the  test,  it  stands  the  test  as  far  as  we  can  go,  and 
constantly  passes  beyond  our  reach.  It  constitutes 
the  one  central  and  continuous  line  with  which  the 
fragmentary  historic  allusions  from  other  sources 
are  wont  to  be  compared. 

I.  Lest  it  should  be  thought  that  the  value  of 
this  record  is  exaggerated,  the  concurrent  testimony 
of  some  of  the  ablest,  most  learned  and  respected 

137 


138  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

modern  scholars  is  subjoined.  Bunsen  wrote  in 
i860:  "The  table  of  the  nations  in  Genesis  is  the 
most  learned  of  all  ancient  documents  and  the  most 
ancient  of  all  learned  ones.  It  is  altogether  the 
most  astonishing  and  admirable  monument  of  the 
tradition."'  Knobel,  in  i860,  pronounced  it  "a  his- 
torical monument,  "declared  that  "the  peoples  men- 
tioned in  it  are  historical,  that  in  the  time  of  the 
author  the  Hebrews  knew  well  the  most  noted  of 
the  nations  within  the  region  designated,  and  that 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  continued  research  will 
ever  more  confirm  the  trustworthiness  of  this  our 
oldest  ethnography."'^  Again,  in  1875,  ^^  empha- 
sized the  breadth  of  its  survey,  and  the  remarkable 
peculiarity  that  whereas  other  ancient  nations  com- 
monly did  not  concern  themselves  about  foreign 
communities  unless  in  matters  of  state  or  commerce, 
and  often  despised  them  as  barbarians,  here  a  mul- 
titude of  races  is  passed  in  review,  to  whom  the 
Israelites  stood  in  no  relations  of  life.^  The  state- 
ment is  repeated  almost  literally  by  Dillmann  in 
1892.*  Brugsch  says,  in  1891 :  "It  has  the  high- 
est significance  for  scientific  investigation.  "^  George 
Rawlinson  concludes  his  detailed  examination  of 
the  contents  of  the  chapter  thus:  "The  record, 
rightly  interpreted,  completely  harmonizes  with  the 
science  (ethnology),  and  not  only  so,  but  anticipates 
many  of  the  most  curious  and  remarkable  discover- 

1  Bibelwerk,  Eisther  Theil,  p.  63. 

2  Exegetisches  Handbuch,  Genesis,  p.  107. 

3  Kominentar,  3rd  cd.,  p.  176, 

4  Die  Genesis,  p.  162. 

5  Steininschrift,  p.  49. 


THE  TABLE  OF  THE  NATIONS  139 

ies  which  ethnology  has  made  in  comparatively  re- 
cent times.  The  thorough  harmony  which  exists 
between  ethnological  science  and  this  unique  record 
is  a  strong  argument  for  the  truth  of  both.'"^  De- 
litzsch  says  in  the  last  edition  of  his  commentary : 
"Nowhere  is  found  a  survey  of  the  connection  of 
nations  that  can  be  compared  with  the  ethnological 
table  of  the  Bible ;  nowhere  one  so  universal  in  pro- 
portion to  its  horizon,  and  so  all-comprising,  at  least 
with  regard  to  its  purpose.'"^  To  Kalisch  it  is  "an 
unparalleled  list,  the  combined  result  of  deep  re- 
flection and  research,  and  no  less  valuable  as  a  his- 
torical document  than  as  a  lasting  proof  of  the 
brilliant  capacity  of  the  Hebrew  mind."^  Ebers 
wrote,  in  1868,  that  "in  the  presence  of  the  great 
genealogical  tree  of  Genesis  we  stand  on  firmer 
ground"  (than  as  to  the  locality  of  paradise),  and 
that  his  own  effort  was  directed  only  to  ascertaining 
what  lands  or  nations  the  author  intended  by  his 
names,  and  finding  their  geographical  position.^ 
Sir  J.  W.  Dawson,  in  1894,  terms  it  "a  scrap  of 
pre-historic  lore  of  the  most  intensely  interesting 
character,"  speaks  of  the  "sure  scientific  instinct" 
of  the  author,  and  after  some  explanatory  remarks 
he  proceeds:  "These  points  being  premised,  we 
can  clear  away  the  fogs  which  have  been  gathered 
around  this  luminous  spot  in  the  early  history  of  the 
world,  and  can  trace  at  least  the  principal  ethnic 
lines  which  have  radiated  from  it."'^ 

6  Origin  of  Nations.,  p.  252. 

7  New  Commentary,  Eng.  trans.,  i.,  p.  300. 

8  Commentary  on  Genesis,  p.  287.  9  Egypt,  etc.,  pp.36,  37. 
ID  The  Meeting  Place  of  Geology  and  History,  pp.  183^  184,  188. 


140  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEVCH 

Strack,  in  his  commentary  published  in  the  same 
year,  says:  "The  statements  of  the  table  have 
rendered  manifold  services  to  scientific  inquiry,  as 
connecting  links  and  guides.  Many  of  them  that 
were  formerly  doubted  or  pronounced  erroneous 
have  been  proved  by  farther  investigation  to  be  cor- 
rect. It  is  to  be  observed  that  everything  mythical 
or  monstrous  is  strictly  avoided.  The  authors 
speak  only  of  what  they  know,  what  they  hold  to 
be  true  on  the  basis  of  the  knowledge  of  their  time  ; 
they  make  no  inventions,  so  that  Herder  judiciously 
observes  'the  poverty  of  this  list  and  of  its  informa- 
tion is  its  guaranty.""' 

We  have  thus  gathered  up  some  of  the  testimo- 
nies of  the  foremost  modern  scholars  in  regard  to  the 
historic  character  and  value  of  a  part  of  the  sacred 
narrative  which  far  antedates  all  other  consecutive 
history,  in  order  to  show  by  this  remarkable  test 
how  little  is  to  be  feared  in  the  long  run  from  arbi- 
trary and  precipitate  flings  at  the  Hexateuch, 
whether  pronounced  "unhistorical,"  "saga  "  "leg- 
end" or  "myth." 

2.  Still  more  remarkable,  indeed  unparallelea, 
is  the  underlying  principle  of  the  enumeration. 
Knobel  and  subsequent  commentators  (e.  g.  Dill- 
mann,  Delitzsch,  Strack)  have  pointedly  called  at- 
tention to  its  characteristic  basis,  the  family  rela- 
tionship of  the  nations.  While  other  lists  of  coun- 
tries, as  those  of  the  Babylonians  and  Egyptians, 
treat  only  of  conquered  or  tributary  nations,  and  the 

ij  Kommeotar,  Die  Genesis,  p.  35. 


THE  TABLE  OF  THE  NATIONS  141 

Hellenes  spoke  of  ol  (idp^apot,  the  barbarians,  and 
the  Chinese  of  outside  barbarians  and  foreign  devils, 
"Israel  is  here,"  as  Knobel  remarks,  "only  a  mem- 
ber of  collective  humanity.  K\\  men  are  of  the 
same  race,  the  same  worth,  and  the  same  designa- 
tion—brethren and  relatives  of  each  other.  This 
biblical  view  proceeds  from  the  greatness  and  entire- 
ness  of  humanity."  It  is  the  same  view  so  earnestly 
and  constantly  set  forth  by  the  illustrious  Hungarian 
patriot,  Kossuth,  when  in  185 1-2  he  journeyed 
through  this  country,  everywhere  dwelling  on  "the 
solidarity  of  the  nations."  Without  insisting  on 
the  suggestion  of  some  respectable  interpreters  (e. 
g.  Delitzsch  and  Strack),  the  implication  of  a  com- 
mon hope  in  store  for  all  these  races  as  branches 
and  twigs  of  one  common  stock,  descendants  of  one 
pious  ancestor,  we  may  well  emphasize  the  moral 
elevation  involved  in  this  underlying  principle  of 
enumeration,  not  only  as  unique  and  deserving  of 
profound  respect,  but  as  worthy  of  a  place  in  a  reve- 
lation from  God. 

3.  The  evident  antiquity  of  the  document,  in  its 
substance.  The  precise  period  from  which  the 
composition  of  the  table  dates  has  been  a  matter  of 
much  discussion  and  diversity  of  opinion.  Some 
have  gone  to  the  extreme  of  calling  it  post-exilic; 
a  view  which  it  has  been  well  said  is  precluded 
alike  by  what  it  contains  and  what  it  does  not  con- 
tain. Its  historic  character  is  clearly  incompatible 
with  any  such  supposition ;  it  might  as  well  be  at- 
tributed to  the  nineteenth  century.     Ewald,  Ebers 


142  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

and  others  advocate  the  time  of  the  early  kings. 
Delitzsch  thinks  that,  for  reasons  which  he  gives, 
it  cannot  be  later  than  that,  and  speaks  of  its  "hoary 
antiquity."  Ebrard  makes  a  strong  showing  for 
the  view  of  a  pre-Abrahamic  text,  transmitted  or- 
all}^  and  with  some  additions  indicative  of  the  time 
of  Moses,  written  out  in  the  time  of  Moses,  and 
previous  to  the  departure  from  Egypt. '^  It  is,  how- 
ever, by  no  means  necessary  to  suppose  it  to  have 
been  an  unwritten  tradition  till  the  time  of  Moses ; 
for  we  now  know  that  for  ages  previous  to  that 
time  writing  was  abundant  both  in  Egypt,  where 
Moses  had  his  home,  and  in  Babylonia,  from  which 
Abraham  came. 

Among  the  indications  that  carry  the  table  far 
back  into  the  past  are  the  following :  While  Elam 
is  mentioned,  Persia,  which  was  unimportant  and 
unknown  till  the  sixth  century  B.  C,  is  not  recog- 
nized; Nineveh  (verses  ii,  12)  was  as  yet  but  one 
of  four  distinct  settlements,  and  not,  as  it  became 
from  the  time  of  Sennacherib  (705-681  B.  C),  the 
collective  name  of  them  all,  while  the  northernmost 
town,  Khorsabad,  built  by  Sargon  (721-705  B.  C), 
is  not  alluded  to ;  the  Arabian  name,  which  occurs 
in  Isaiah,  Ezekiel  and  Jeremiah,  does  not  appear, 
nor  does  Minni,  mentioned  in  Jer.  i.  27,  in  connec- 
tion with  Ashkenaz  of  ch.  x.  3,  and  in  the  Assyrian 
inscriptions  (716  B.  C);  Sidon,  the  older  Pheni- 
cian  city,  is  introduced,  but  not  Tyre,  which  after 
the  time  of   David   and   Solomon  became  so  much 


12  Ebrard,  Christian  Apologetics,  ii.,  296  seq. 


THE  TABLE  OF  THE  NATIONS  143 

more  important,  and  which  even  before  the  con- 
quest of  Palestine  is  shown  by  the  Tell  Amarna 
letters  to  have  been  in  rivalry  with  Sidon  ;'^'  and 
further  still,  verse  19  of  the  chapter  carries  us  back 
very  distinctly  to  a  time  before  the  destruction  of 
the  cities  of  the  plain,  that  is,  before  the  times  of 
Abraham  ;  for  it  is  difficult  to  comprehend  other- 
wise the  incidental  allusion,  "as  thou  goest  unto 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  and  Admah  and  Zeboim." 
The  German  critics  are  constrained  to  recognize 
the  great  antiquity  of  the  allusion,  it  being  assigned, 
in  Kautzsch's  translation,  as  well  as  in  Holzinger's" 
and  Koenig's'^  introductions,  to  J,  their  oldest  narra- 
tor ;  and  even  such  an  extremist  as  Wellhausen  has 
to  admit  that  the  table  (which  he  guesses  had  orig- 
inally but  seven  generations  instead  of  ten)  "cannot 
have  been  wanting  in  JE,"  the  combination  of  the 
two  oldest/*^  But  the  allusion  to  the  destroyed 
cities  as  apparently  existent  and  known  to  the  trav- 
eler, speaks  for  itself.  The  limitations  of  the  list 
are  in  favor  of  its  antiquity.  The  designation  of 
many  of  the  races  by  a  personal  name,  as  it  is  com- 
monly understood,  would  naturally  indicate  a  tra- 
dition handed  down  so  long  as  to  have  identified  a 
race  with  an  ancestor. 

4.  The  historic  value  of  this  table,  as  has  been 
remarked  by  more  than  one  writer,  can  hardly  be 
overestimated.      It  forms  the  central  and  continuous 

13  Conder's  Tell  Amarna  Letters,  p.  loo  seq. 

14  Holzinger,  Einleitung,  p.  149. 

15  Koenig,  Einleitung,  p.  190. 
1-6  History  of  Israel,  p.  313. 


1 14  THE  VERA  CITY  OF  THE  HEX  A  TE  UCH 

thread  of  early  history,  so  far  as  its  range  extends, 
and  a  standard  with  which  modern  discoveries  are 
compared  to  bring  them  into  coherence  and  unity. 
The  chief  difhcuhy  in  the  explanation  of  the  table 
consists  in  the  poverty  of  our  other  sources  of 
knowledge  of  those  early  times,  and  the  impracti- 
cability of  tracing  the  nations  as  made  known  to 
later  history,  back  through  their  migrations  and 
mutations  and  the  linguistic  changes,  to  their  an- 
cestry. This  difficulty  has  given  rise  to  many  dif- 
ferences of  identification  in  details,  while  there  is  a 
somewhat  general  and  growing  agreement  in  re- 
gard to  main  facts. 

The  table  has  its  obvious  limitations.  It  presents 
ethnological  groups  of  peoples  traced  to  their  an- 
cestry or  their  early  home,  and  relates  to  their  pri- 
mary distribution  from  one  common  center,  the 
land  of  Shinar.  It  follows  them  in  that  dispersion 
to  different  stages:  Shem,  naturally,  to  the  sixth 
generation ;  Ham  partly  to  the  third  or  fourth ; 
Japheth  only  to  the  first  division  of  the  main  lines. 
It  has  nothing  to  do  with  their  subsequent  migra- 
tions and  changes  or  interchanges.  The  Japhethites 
are  dismissed  mainly  along  two  lines ;  one  south- 
west along  the  Mediterranean,  the  other  northwest 
beyond  the  Black  Sea.  The  Hamitic  tribes  are 
traced  to  the  region  of  the  Euphrates,  Arabia, 
Egypt  and  Ethiopia,  as  well  as  Phenicia.  The 
Semitic  races  are  located,  speaking  generally,  be- 
tween these  northern  and  southern  peoples. 

Various  obscurities  still  hang  over  this  ancient 


THE  TABLE  OF  THE  NA  TIONS  145 

document,  giving  rise  to  conflicting  views  in  regard 
to  the  details,  many  of  them  highly  conjectural. 
Fresh  discoveries  from  time  to  time  bring  new 
light.  Shinar  has  only  in  recent  times  been  identi- 
fied with  Sumer,  a  part  of  Babylonia.  Accad,  un- 
known till  still  more  recent  times,  is  now  become 
a  household  word  as  the  name  of  a  state  or  region. 
Yet  as  late  as  1883  Schrader  wrote  that  "as  the 
name  of  a  city,  Accad  has  not  hitherto  been  indi- 
cated in  the  inscriptions";''  but  in  that  same  year 
Hormuzd  Rassam  found  an  inscription  on  a  granite 
block,  giving  it  as  the  name  also  of  a  city.'^  The 
statement  that  "the  beginning"  of  the  Babylonish 
kingdom  was  earlier  than  that  of  the  Ninevitish 
(verses  10,  11)  is  now  confirmed,  contrary  to  the 
former  supposition.  It  is  only  since  the  explorations 
of  Loftus  (1857)  that  Erech  (v.  11)  has  been  defi- 
nitely identified  with  the  ruins  of  Warka,  on  the 
Euphrates.  The  situation  of  the  city  Calah  (v.  11), 
unknown  till  within  a  few  years,  is,  as  Schrader  re- 
marks, firmly  setded  by  the  inscriptions,  being  also 
identified  with  the  ruins  called  Nimrud  in  the  angle 
formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Tigris  with  the  Zab ; 
Assurnatsirpal  relating  that  the  city  was  rebuilt  by 
him  (883-859),  but  was  built  by  Shalmaneser  (about 
1300  B.  C.).''  Sayce  announces  that  in  the  winter 
of  1894  he  had  discovered,  in  a  hieroglyphic  geo- 
graphical list  recently  excavated  at  the  temple  of 
Kom  Ombo,  the  two  Scripture  names  of  Caphtor 

17  Keilinschriften,  p.  95. 

18  Hilprecht,  cited  in  Delitzsch,  i..  324-  See  also  Dillmann  m  loco. 

19  Keilinschriften,  p.  97- 


146  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

and  Calushim,  in  the  places  Kaptar  and  Kalushet.-° 
Of  course  it  would  be  impracticable  to  enter  here 
on  a  full  statement,  much  less  a  discussion  of  this 
table  of  the  nations,  as  it  has  been  termed,  which 
has  been  the  subject  of  protracted  dissertations  and 
even  of  volumes,  by  such  scholars  as  Bunsen,  Kno- 
bel,  Ebers,  Schrader,  Fried.  Delitzsch,  Dillmann, 
George  Rawlinson,  Brugsch,  Sayce  and  others.  A 
few  hints  only  are  admissible,  and  with  regard  to 
the  descendants  of  Japheth. 

Gomer  is  confidently  (and  now  almost  univer- 
sally) identified  with  the  Kimmerii("  Cimmerians")"^ 
of  Homer,  Herodotus  and  ^schylus,  in  the  obscure 
region  north  of  the  Black  Sea,  whose  name  was 
once  found  in  the  "Kimmerian  Bosphorus"  and  re- 
mains in  the  "Crimea."  Many  writers  go  further 
and  find  traces  of  the  race  in  the  Cimbri  (Kimbri)^^ 
and  even  the  Kymry;  while  Josephus^'^  would  in- 
clude the  Galatians  (Gauls?), and  George  Rawlinson 
uses  arguments  for  finding  among  their  descendants 
the  Celtic  race.  If  this  last  view  could  be  main- 
tained, it  would  singularly  aid  in  explaining  the 
great  phenomenon  of  the  migrations.^*  But  though 
accepted  by  some  (e.  g.  Ebrard),  it  has  not  been 
generally  sustained.  Yet  the  identification  with 
the  Kimmerii  stands  fast,  though,  as  always,  with 

20  The  Higher  Criticism,  p.  173. 

21  The  consonants  of  the  words  are  the  same,  the  sonant  G  being  prac- 
tically identical  with  the  surd  K.  But  scriptural  and  other  historical  indi- 
cations concur.  The  race  is  also  the  Gimmarrai  of  the  Assyrian  inscriptions. 

22  With  Diodorus  Siculus,  v.,  32,  and  Strabo,  vii.,  2  seq. 

23  Antiquities,  i.,  6.  His  detailed  statement  would  apply  to  the  Galli  in 
general. 

24  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  iii.,  150  secj. 


THE  TABLE  OF  THE  NATIONS  147 

some  dissent.  ^^     The  identification  of  Magog  with 
the   Scythians  is,  for  historical   reasons,  generally 
accepted,  as  originally  suggested  by  Josephus ;  of 
whom  it  is  stated  by  Herodotus  that  they  had  early 
driven  the  Kimmerii  into  Asia.     Their  original  seat 
after  the  dispersion  is  assigned  to  the  tract  between 
the  Caucasus  and  Mesopotamia,  where,  in  the  sev- 
enth century  B.  C,  they  appear  for  a  time  to  have 
been  the  dominant  race.   Rawlinson  would  find  the 
Slavs  as  their  descendants,  but  this  is  perhaps  more 
than  doubtful.   Madai  without  dissent  represents  the 
Median  race.     Javan  is  equally  beyond  dispute  the 
Ionian  (or    Hellenic)   race.      Meshech    and    Tubal 
are  with  perhaps  as  little  hesitation  recognized  in 
the   Moschi  and  Tibareni   of   Herodotus,  and  the 
Tabal    and    Muski    of  the  Assyrian  monuments.^® 
Their  location  was  understood  to  be  south  or  south- 
east of  the  Black  Sea,  nations  once  powerful,  but 
declining  in  power  from  iioo  B.  C,  and  unknown 
in  their  descendants.      Tiras  is  more  questionable  ; 
regarded  by  Rawlinson  (after  Josephus,    Eusebius 
and  Jerome)  as  the  Thracians ;  by  Tuch,  Dillmann 
and  others  as  the  Tyrseni  or  Pelasgic  people,  and 
by  Delitzsch  as  the   dwellers  on  the  Tyras  or  the 
Dniester — all  concurring,    however,    in    assigning 
them  a  location  beyond  the  Euxine. 

A  few  words  may  be  added  in  regard  to  Javan. 
The  consonants  of  the  Hebrew  word  are  the  same 
with  those  of  the  Greek  "  lonians,"  when  the  proper 
Greek  termination  is  dropped  and  the  digamma  re- 

as  Halevy,  Kiepert  and  G.  Wahl  are  cited  as  dissenting. 
26  Schrader,  pp.  82,  84;  and  other  writers. 


148  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

tained.  The  location,  both  as  indicated  in  the 
table  itself  and  in  the  inscription  of  Sargon  II.  (727- 
705  B.  C),  which  mentions  Javnai/^  corresponds. 
Kalisch  gives  his  authorities  for  finding  their  names, 
in  the  Sanscrit  lavana  and  the  Joitnan  of  the  in- 
scription of  Rosetta  f^  and  Sayce  claims  that  the 
name  occurs  "letter  for  letter"  in  one  of  the  Tell 
Amarna  tablets  (No.  42,  Berlin),  and  that  in  the 
days  when  the  monarchs  of  the  sixth  dynasty  were 
erecting  their  pyramids,  the  Mediterranean  was  al- 
ready known  as  the  great  circle  of  the  "Uinivu"  or 
lonians.^  At  all  events,  the  identification  appears 
to  be  thoroughly  settled.  Of  the  subordinate  de- 
tails it  is  agreed  that  Chittim  designates  the  Cy- 
prians, or  inhabitants  of  Cyprus ;  the  island  being 
called  Chetima  in  the  time  of  Josephus,^°  its  capital 
termed  Kition  by  the  Greeks,  and  its  king  being 
represented  by  Homer  as  giving  a  suit  of  armor  to 
Agamemnon.  ^^  Cesnola  finds  that  (with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  Argive  colony  of  Curium)  the  Greek 
settlers  chose  the  north  and  west  sides  of  the  island, 
and  that  of  the  w^est  kingdoms  of  Cyprus  onl}^  two 
were  distinctly  Phenician. 

Tarshish  was  undoubtedly  the  Tartessus  of  the 
Greeks,  probably  at  the  western  limit  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, and  supposed  to  have  been  not  far  from 
Gibraltar.     Elisha    is    by    the    greater   weight    of 

27  Schrader,  p.  8i. 

28  Commentary,  Genesis,  p.  212. 

29  The  Higher  Criticism,  p.  20. 

30  Antiq.,  i.,  6. 

31  Iliad,  xii.,  19. 


THE  TABLE  OF  THE  NATIONS  149 

authority  understood  of  the  ^olians.^^  Dodanim 
of  the  common  text  has  been  found  in  the  Darda- 
nians;^^  but  if  it  be  Rodanim,^*  as  in  the  marginal 
reading  (with  Septuagint  and  some  other  authori- 
ties), then  the  inhabitants  of  Rhodes  and  the  islands 
of  the  ^gean. 

These  specimens  illustrate  the  general  and  con- 
fident agreement  upon  the  main  lines  of  the  table ; 
and  also,  owing  to  the  defectiveness  of  modern 
knowledge,  the  difficulty  attending  many  of  the 
subordinate  details,  where  conjectures  are  more 
abundant  than  known  facts.  Very  likely  more  light 
is  to  come. 

Without  entering  on  further  details  of  this  table, 
it  is  to  be  observed  how  in  the  main  it  explains  the 
radiation  of  these  several  branches  of  the  family  of 
nations.  It  shows  us  the  race  of  Ham  located 
largely  in  Africa,  but  also  early  (as  they  can  be 
traced)  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria, ^^  as  well  as  in 
Arabia  and  Canaan ;  the  race  of  Shem  less  widely 
dispersed  in  Elam,  Syria  and  Assyria,  in  which  last 
country  they  subsequently  encroached  upon  the 
Hamites ;  and  the  Japhethites  on  their  way  to  a  far 
more  remarkable  dispersion,  the  Medes  to  the  south- 
east, the  lonians  to  the  southwest  along  the  Medi- 
terranean towards  Italy,  and  Gomer,  Magog  and 
Tiras  to  the  west  and  the  northwest,  where  they 
subsequently  crowded  one  another  from  behind  to- 

32  Josephus,    Knobel,    Rawlinson,    Delitzsch,    Smith's   Bible   Diet.      But 
Kalisch  and  Sayce  say  Hellas,  and  Dillraann  dissents  from  both. 

33  Gesenius,  Knobel,  Bunsen,  Delitzsch. 

34  Dillmann,  Rawlinson,  Strack. 

35  The  attempt  to  limit  Cush  to  Ethiopia  was  abandoned  many  years  ago. 


150  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

wards  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  It  is  manifestly  a  great 
historic  chart,  obscure  in  subordinate  points  because 
of  our  present  ignorance,  but  clear  and  firm  in  its 
main  outlines.  ^^ 


36  See  note  xvi.,  Appendix. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  DELUGE 

The  time  has  gone  by  when  any  well-read  man 
can  afford  to  speak  lightly  of  the  Scriptural  account 
of  the  Deluge.  It  is  beyond  rational  dispute  that 
such  an  event  took  place,  and  that  this  narrative  is 
the  one  sober,  consistent  account  of  it.  In  dealing 
with  the  subject,  four  points  deserve  attention:  (i) 
The  evidence  of  the  fact ;  (2)  the  characteristics  of 
the  narrative  of  it ;  (3)  the  extent  of  it ;  (4)  the 
method.  Strictly  speaking,  there  is  no  necessity 
for  an  explanation  of  the  method,  if  the  fact  is  sus- 
tained. Proved  facts  are  ultimate,  whether  explica- 
ble or  not. 

I.  The  fact.  Nothing  in  regard  to  the  early 
history  of  mankind  is  better  sustained.  The  proof 
is  found  in  the  widespread  traditions  of  the  human 
race,  inexplicable  except  as  commemorating  such  a 
fact,  and  also  corroborated  by  late  geological  evi- 
dence. 

The  traditions  of  the  deluge,  while  not  univer- 
sal— as  could  not  reasonably  be  expected — are  yet 
of  the  widest  extent,  being  found  in  various  parts 
of  both  continents.  Although  in  some  instances 
they  may  have  been  imported,  in  many  cases  such 
a  supposition  is  not  only  unsupported  but  clearly 
inadmissible.      As  Alexander    von   Humboldt  long 

151 


152  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

ago  remarked,  the  local  coloring  in  each,  together 
with  the  extreme  isolation  of  many  of  these  peoples 
(as,  for  example,  in  the  forests  of  Orinoco),  renders 
it  impossible  to  ascribe  the  traditions  to  outside  in- 
fluences.^ The  most  succinct,  and  possibly  dis- 
criminating statement,  is  that  of  the  oriental  scholar 
I.enormant.  His  opening  assertion  is  this:  "A- 
i.iong  all  the  traditions  which  concern  the  histor^^ 
of  primitive  humanity,  the  most  universal  is  that  of 
the  Deluge.  It  would  be  going  too  far  to  assert 
that  this  tradition  is  found  among  all  nations,  but 
it  does  reappear  among  all  the  great  races  of  men, 
saving  only  in  one  instance — an  exception  which  it 
is  important  to  note — and  that  is  the  black  race, 
traces  of  it  having  been  vainly  sought  either  among 
the  African  tribes  or  the  dusky  populations  of  Oce- 
an ica.''^  This  exception,  however,  appears  to  be 
taken  away  by  other  testimony.  For  Delitzsch 
affirms  in  his  New  Commentary,  that  the  legend  of 
the  flood  (mingled  also  with  traces  of  the  revolt 
against  heaven)  was  found  in  southwest  African 
Damara,  he  having  received  the  information  per- 
sonally from  the  missionary  superintendent  C.  Hugo 
Hahn,  who  assured  him  that  "it  was  original,  for 
that  no  white  man  and  no  missionary  had  come  in 
contact  with  that  people  before  himself.'"  Williams 
and  Calvert  assert  the  existence  of  a  similar  tra- 
dition in  the  Fiji  Islands,  its  details  including  even 

1  Cited  in  Reusch's  Nature  and  the  Bible,  i.,  p.  405. 

2  Beginninf?s  of  History,  p.  382. 

3  New  Commentary,  Vol.  i.,  p.  247,  Eng.  trans. 


THE  DELUGE  15S 

the  rescue  of  eight  persons  from  the  general  de- 
struction.* 

In  recent  times  no  little  effort  has  been  expended 
in  reducing  the  instances  by  endeavoring  to  discrimi- 
nate original  from  alleged  "imported"  traditions, 
and  real  from  "pseudo"  ones,  that  is,  from  those  re- 
garded by  the  writers  as  referring,  not  to  a  general 
destruction,  but  to  a  local  phenomenon.  These 
discriminations  are  of  course  largely  matters  of  in- 
dividual opinion.  But  after  all  attempted  and 
claimed  reductions,  the  reminiscences  branded  into 
the  life  of  the  nations  are  found  to  be  too  vi^ide- 
spread  and  consentient,  as  well  as  characteristic,  to 
be  set  aside.  Thus  Raymond  De  Girard,  who,  in 
his  three  volumes  devoted  to  this  theme,  has  sub- 
jected the  various  claims  to  a  searching  and  unhesi- 
tating criticism,  confidently  affirms  that  even  "the 
minimum  is  such  that,  resting  on  it  alone,  the  tra- 
dition argument  holds  good.  The  traditional  con- 
sensus proves  the  historic  reality  of  the  Deluge."^ 
The  distinguished  and  careful  Delitzsch,  in  his  New 
Commentary  (his  last),  though  grown  somewhat 
cautious,  if  not  timid,  in  his  advanced  years,  and 
under  the  pressure  of  bold  attempts  to  reduce  the 
testimony,  and  omitting  the  extensive  details  of  his 
earlier  editions,  yet  finds  the  "legend  of  the  flood 
starting  from  the  region  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphra- 
tes, and  spreading  westwards  over  Anterior  Asia 
and  thence  to  Greece,  and  eastward  to  the  Indians, 

4  Williams  and  Calvert's  Fiji  and  Fijians,  p.  2ia. 

5  De  Girard,  Le  Deluge,  i.,  p.  310. 


154  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

after  they  had  advanced  from  Hindukuh  along  the 
Indus  as  far  as  the  sea,  acquiring  everywhere  fresh 
national  coloring  and  attaching  itself  to  different 
localities."  He  admits  there  is  no  means  of  check- 
ing the  statement  of  Josephus,  who  cited  two  authori- 
ities  that  it  was  found  among  the  Phenicians; 
concedes  that  it  occurs  in  the  Bundehesh  of  the  Per- 
sians ;  so,  too,  in  the  Scandinavian  and  German  my- 
thologies, and  in  the  Welsh  Triads.  He  proceeds 
to  mention  the  "surprising"  fact  that  traditions  of 
the  Flood  strikingly  like  the  ancient  ones  in  their 
details  are  found  among  the  Mexicans,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Cuba,  the  Peruvians,  the  Tamanaki,  and 
almost  all  the  tribes  of  the  Upper  Orinoco,  the 
Tahitians  and  other  islands  of  the  Society  Archi- 
pelago, and  the  Macusi  Indians  of  South  America.^ 
He  might  have  added,  on  the  authority  of  School- 
craft, most  of  the  tribes  of  North  American  Indians.^ 
He  also  cites  an  Egyptian  tradition,  given  by 
Brugsch,  of  the  destruction  of  a  sin-corrupted  world, 
not  by  a  flood,  which  in  Egypt  would  have  been  a 
blessing,  but  by  a  slaughter.** 

One  of  the  most  recent,  as  well  as  most  rigid  and 
uncompromising  investigations  of  this  w^hole  sub- 
ject, appears  to  have  been  made  by  Richard  Andree, 
not  alone  in  collecting  the  facts,  but  in  scrutinizing 
their  relations,  whether  in  his  view^  original  or  im- 
ported, whether  actual   or  "pseudo" — the  last  dis- 

6  Vol.  i.,  pp.  245-6. 

7  Schoolcraft, History  and  Condition  of  the  Indian  Tribes,  i.,  p.  17.  School- 
praft  gives  the  detailed  statements. 

8  Brugsch,  Steininschrift,  p.  47. 


THE  DELUGE  155 

tinction  being  better  expressed  as  general  or  local. 
He  finds  the  tradition  in  not  less  than  eighty-seven 
widely  scattered  tribes  or  races ;  and  although  he 
endeavors  to  reduce  them  all,  with  the  exception  of 
three  or  four  (the  chief  of  which  is  the  Chaldean),  to 
the  two  classes  of  imported  or  local,  the  effort 
speaks  for  itself  in  view  of  the  fact  that  forty-seven 
of  them  are  found  in  the  American  continent,  all 
the  way  from  the  Esquimaux  on  the  north  to  Brazil 
on  the  south. ^  No  theory  of  origin  can  hide  the 
great  fact ;  and  that  can  be  explained  only  by  the 
reality  of  the  event. 

Very  extraordinary  among  these  accounts  is  the 
Chaldean  one  of  Berosus,  which  has  long  been 
known ;  and  even  more  remarkable  was  the  dis- 
covery by  George  Smith  in  1872  of  another  account 
contained  in  some  tablets  in  the  British  Museum 
which  had  been  exhumed  from  the  ruins  of  Nine- 
veh. The  date  assigned  to  it  by  Smith  and  by 
Boscawen  is  about  2000  B.  C.  There  are  marked 
resemblances  and  some  marked  differences  between 
it  and  the  Scripture  account, — on  which  we  need 
not  dwell  at  present. 

The  substance  of  these  various  traditions,  with 
more  or  less  of  expansion  or  of  omission,  is  as  fol- 
lows :  A  wicked  world  destroyed  for  its  wicked- 
ness ;  one  righteous  family  saved  in  an  ark  or  boat, 

9  Andree's  results  are  tabulated  by  De  Girard  at  the  end  of  Vol.  i.  The 
absurdly  haphazard  and  helpless  way  in  which  some  writers  vainly  endeavor 
to  break  the  force  of  this  wide  consensus  is  illustrated  in  the  case  of  Diestel, 
whose  results  are  also  tabulated  by  Girard.  He  finds  the  tradition  in  seventy- 
seven  different  tribes  or  races,  recognizes  one  as  original  and  genuine,  and 
without  even  taking  the  trouble  to  divide  the  remainder  into  two  classes,  he 
blurs  the  matter  over  by  pronouncing  each  instance  to  be  either  imported  or 
local.    He  cannot  say  which, 


156  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

together  with  animals ;  the  ark  resting  on  a  moun- 
tain ;  birds  sent  out  to  learn  the  condition  of  the 
earth;  an  altar  built  and  sacrifices  offered.^'' 

The  details  usually  have  a  local  coloring ;"  but, 
as  Kalisch  remarks,  "there  is  scarcely  a  single 
feature  in  the  Biblical  account  which  is  not  dis- 
covered in  one  or  several  of  these  traditions."  It 
may  be  safely  affirmed  that  some  such  deluge  as  is 
described  by  it  is  among  the  best  sustained  facts  in 
the  ancient  history  of  mankind. 

To  the  weight  of  these  wide-spread  and  concur- 
rent traditions,  may  now  be  added  the  results  of  re- 
cent scientific  observations,  as  set  forth  by  authori- 
ties like  Prof.  Edward  Suess  of  Vienna,  Prestwich 
of  England  and  Sir  Henry  Howorth.  But  we  re- 
serve these  for  the  present.  The  local  extent  of  the 
Deluge  is  also  deferred  for  later  consideration. 

II.  The  characteristics  of  the  Scripture  account 
of  the  Flood  are  such  as  of  themselves  to  make  the 
strongest  impression  of  its  truthfulness. 

1.  Its  exactness  of  statement.  There  is  no  loose- 
ness nor  vagueness ;  all  is  precise.  We  have  the 
materials,  the  dimensions,  the  internal  arrangement 
of  the  ark,  provision  for  light,  constant  dates  and 
intervals  of  time  (ch.  vii.  4,  6,  10,  11,  12,  13,  17, 
24;  viii.  4,  5,  6,  10,  12,  13,  14),  the  depth  of 
water  at  some  point  (vii.  20),  and  the  relative 
number  of  the  animals  (vii.  9). 

2.  Its  sobriety  and  consistency:  (a)  a  longwarn- 

10  See  note  xvii.,  Appendix. 

11  In  the  tradition  of  Michiiacan,  e.  g.,  the  humming-bird  takes  the  place 
pf  the  dove,  and  brings  a  twig  in  its  mouth. 


THE  DELUGE  157 

ing  and  preparation  (vi.  3);  (b)  the  duration,  a  year 
and  ten  days — the  Chaldean  account  allowing  but 
seven  days ;  (c)  the  gradual  progress  of  the  flood, 
in  regard  to  its  height,  cessation,  decline  and  com- 
plete withdrawal ;  (d)  the  agency,  not  merely  rain, 
but  the  breaking  up  of  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep ;  (e)  the  size  and  structure  of  the  ark :  taking 
what  Gen.  Sir  Henry  James  found  to  be  the  cubit 
of  Memphis,  and  of  the  Kilometers  at  Cairo  and 
Elephantine  (20.7  inches),'"  the  ark  would  have  been 
517  feet  long,  86^  wide,  and  51^  high,  corre- 
sponding very  closely  in  breadth  and  height  to  the 
famous  British  Great  Eastern,  but  shorter  and  there- 
fore so  far  more  seaworthy,  the  dimensions  of  the 
latter  being  691  by  83  by  58;  whereas  the  Chal- 
dean story  of  Berosus  gives  the  preposterous  length 
of  five  stadia  and  the  breadth  of  two  stadia ;  (f) 
made  of  gopher  or  pitch  wood,  which  is  abundant 
in  the  region  of  the  Caucasus  and  in  Armenia ;  (g) 
tightened  with  bitumen,  which  is  found  at  various 
points  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Euphrates ;  (h)  con- 
structed in  stories  and  cells,  and  with  light ;  (i)  the 
whole  structure  pre-supposing  the  skill  in  the  use 
of  metals  already  indicated  in  the  Scripture  narra- 
tive. It  may  be  added  that  the  "olive"  of  the  pass- 
age is  found  in  Armenia.  The  narrative  has  a  com- 
plete inner  and  outer  consistency.     The  attempt  to 

12  Notes  on  the  Great  Pyramids  of  Memphis  (1869),  p.  10.  If  this  were  not 
the  precise  length  of  the  cubit,  the  proportions  would  be  the  same,  corre- 
sponding favorably  to  those  of  the  vessel  built  by  the  Mistress  of  the  Seas  in 
1857,  then  the  largest  ship  -"n  the  world.  What  human  being,  thousands,  or 
even  hundreds  of  years  ago,  was  competent  to  give  such  proportions,  except 
as  describing  a  fact?  Supposing  the  figures  to  have  passed  through  the 
hands  of  Moses,  they  would  naturally  be  reckoned  in  cubits  of  the  pyramids. 


158  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

find  a  contradiction,  as  of  two  conflicting  accounts, 
in  the  direction  to  take  of  the  clean  beasts  by  seven 
and  of  the  beasts  that  are  not  clean  by  two,  male 
and  female  (both  stated  in  one  verse,  vii.  2),  even 
though  in  the  first  and  preliminary  announcement 
only  the  general  principle  of  "two  of  every  sort"  is 
mentioned,  is  transparently  futile. 

3.  Its  pure  monotheism,  in  marked  contrast  to 
the  low  polytheism  of  the  lately  discovered  Chal- 
dean account,  which  represents  the  gods  as  fleeing 
in  terror  before  the  whirlwind  and  storm  and  "like 
dogs  lying  down  in  a  heap"  (and  "  in  a  kennel^'''^  Davis 
and  Boscawen).  Almost  equally  marked  is  the  con- 
trast between  the  direct  simplicity  of  the  Scripture 
account  and  the  w^earisome  repetitions  and  trivial 
details  of  what  is  called  the  Chaldean  Epic. 

4.  Its  marks  of  personal  participation,  and  de- 
scription at  first-hand.  This  suggestion  is  not  new. 
Kurtz  spoke  of  the  narrative  many  years  ago  as 
bearing  "all  the  marks  of  being  a  carefully  kept 
diary."  Tayler  Lewis  spoke  of  its  being  "as  op- 
tically described  by  some  one  in  the  ark."  Dr. 
Dawson  has  called  it  a  "log."  More  than  sixty 
years  ago  Herder,  wdth  his  quick  instinct,  recognized 
it  as  a  journal  of  what  took  place  in  the  ark,  "true 
and  authentic."  Reusch  substantially  accepts  the 
suggestion.  The  suggestion,  once  made,  commends 
itself  in  the  strongest  manner  to  the  thoughtful  stu- 
dent, especially  of  the  original  text,  in  which  the 
optional  traits  are  most  distinctly  seen.'^ 

13  Kurtz,  History  of  the  Old  Covenant,  i.,  p.  102.  Lewis,  in  Lange's  Gene- 
sis, p.  321.  Dawson,  The  Meeting  Place  of  Geology  and  History,  p.  139, 
Herder's  Hebrew  Poetry,  i.,  p.  253.  Reusch's  Nature  and  the  Bible,  i.,  p.  403. 


THE  DELUGE  159 

The  very  precision  of  statement,  already  men- 
tioned, running  through  the  entire  narrative,  and 
that  too  in  regard  to  some  things  (e.  g.  the  dimen- 
sions of  the  ark)  which  no  human  being  from  that 
day  to  the  present  century  v^as  capable  of  invent- 
ing without  ludicrous  mistakes,  and  which,  it  might 
be  added,  even  the  phenomenal  memory  of  early 
non-reading  communities  could  hardly  have  retained 
for  any  great  length  of  time  without  the  aid  of  writ- 
ing (which  antedates  all  historic  knowledge),  is  of 
itself  a  powerful  argument  in  favor  of  the  sugges- 
tion. 

But  in  addition  to  this,  there  are  expressions  and 
slight  touches  of  description,  which  in  their  vivid- 
ness, child-like  minuteness,  and  even  exclamatory 
character,  belong  only  to  the  scene  as  actually  wit- 
nessed, and  would  have  been  lost  in  a  merely  far- 
off  outline.  Thus  the  narrator  is  so  impressed 
with  the  startling  fact  of  the  beginning  inrush  of 
the  "fountains  of  the  great  deep,"  and  the  rainfall, 
that  he  gives  not  only  the  year,  the  month  and  the 
day,  but  he  adds  that  it  was  ''on  the  same  day," 
literally,  in  the  Hebrew,  "in  the  bone  of  that  day" 
(chap.  vi.  ii).  How  vividly  he  describes  the  steady 
rising  of  the  waters  and  the  effect  (vii.  17-20)! 
They  ' '  increased, "  "  bare  up  the  ark' '  till ' '  it  was  lift 
up  above  the  earth,"  and  still  "the  waters  pre- 
vailed" and  "increased  greatly"  till  "the  ark  went" 
(walked)  "upon  the  face  of  the  waters."  So  again 
of  the  failing  waters  (viii.  3,  5,  9,  11,  13,  14), 
which  "returned    from   off  the   earth   continually" 


160  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

(literally,  going  and  returning),  "decreased  contin- 
ually" (going  and  decreasing),  though  still  lying 
"on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,"  but  at  length 
known  to  be  "abated  from  off  the  earth,"  then 
"dried"  (ver.  13),  but  only  after  another  month  and 
twenty  days  completely  "dried" — as  expressed  by 
another  word  (ver.  13,  14).  Some  of  the  extremely 
minute  touches  of  description  are  such  as  only  a 
witness  and  actor  in  the  transaction  would  have  re- 
corded :  Noah  "opened  the  v/indow"  to  send  forth 
the  birds,  and  when  the  dove  returned,  he  ''^fut 
forth  his  hand  and  took  her  and  pulled  her  in  unto 
him  in  the  ark. "  There  are  the  optical  descriptions  : 
first  (ver.  19),  "^//  the  high  hills  under  the  whole 
heaven  were  covered,"  and  ''^the  mountains  were 
covered;"  and  after  the  waters  began  to  abate, 
"the  tofs  of  the  mountains  zuere  seen,''''  Here  too 
are  the  expressions  of  the  pleased  surprise  of  the 
eye-witness :  when  the  dove  returned  the  second 
time,  "A?,  in  her  mouth  was  an  olive  leaf  pluckt  off" 
(margin  "fresh  olive  leaf") ;  and  later,  he  "removed 
the  covering  of  the  ark  and  looked^  and  behold  (/t*), 
the  face  of  the  earth  was  dry."  Such  slight  but 
expressive  touches  come  naturally  and  only  from  a 
participant.  This  circumstance,  as  will  presently 
appear,  is  not  without  its  bearing  on  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  narrative. 

The  recently  discovered  Chaldean  or  Babylonian 
account  has  many  points  of  resemblance  to  the  Bib- 
lical statement,  sufficient  to  show  that  they  refer  to 
the   same   event.      It   represents  the  Flood  to  be  a 


THE  DELUGE  161 

punishment  for  sin,  and  describes  the  previous  an- 
nouncement, the  building  of  a  huge  vessel  (made 
tight  with  bitumen), the  conveyance  of  animals  into 
it  for  preservation,  the  tremendous  storm,  the  birds 
(dove,  swallow  and  raven),  the  landing  on  a  moun- 
tain, the  sacrifice,  and  other  corresponding  circum- 
stances. Its  divergences  also  are  sufficient,  as  has 
been  said  by  Boscawen,  to  indicate  "a  separate  ver- 
sion," and  thus  to  serve  as  a  historical  corrobo- 
ration. 

The  relations  of  the  two  have  been  repeatedly 
discussed ;  and  while  some  have  supposed  them  to 
be  derived  from  a  common  source,  others  have  been 
ready  to  make  the  Chaldean  to  be  the  original  and 
the  Hebrew  a  derived  version.  This  last  view,  it 
would  seem,  can  hardly  be  maintained :  if  for  no 
other  reason,  because  while  the  Hebrew  account 
could  easily  have  degenerated  in  transmission  into 
the  incongruities  and  impossibilities  of  the  Babylo- 
nian, it  is  not  readily  supposable  that  the  latter 
could  have  been  rectified  and  elevated  into  the  dig- 
nity and  consistency  of  the  former.  Thus,  the 
whole  time  assigned  to  the  event  in  the  Bab3'lonian 
is  the  proposterously  short  time  of  seven  days.  No 
mention  is  made  of  any  other  source  of  the  waters 
than  the  rain.  The  dimensions  of  the  ship,  though 
doubtful  as  to  the  length,  are  now  given  by  Pro- 
fessor Davis  on  the  authority  of  Haupt  as  140  cubits 
in  width  and  the  same  in  height.  This,  reckoning 
the  cubit  at  but  eighteen  inches,  would  make  it  not 


162  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

only  2  20  feet  wide,  but  220  feet  high.  ^*  This  huge 
affair  is  entrusted  to  the  charge  of  a  pilot  or  boat- 
man. The  builder  and  hero  of  the  adventure,  when 
told  to  build,  expresses  the  fear  that  the  children  of 
the  people  will  laugh  at  him ;  but  eventually  he 
finishes  the  work  and  takes  into  it,  not  only  his  man- 
servants and  maid-servants  and  chests  or  baskets 
of  food  (carried  on  the  heads  of  the  bearers),  but 
his  gold  and  silver  and  "wine  like  waters  of  the 
river."  The  polytheism  of  the  story  has  been  al- 
ready mentioned 

These  striking  differences  and  inferiorities,  and 
partly  impossible  details,  when  compared  with  the 
sober  and  dignified  statements  of  the  Bible,  would 
seem  to  show  decidedly  which  was  the  genuine  and 
true  account,  and  which,  if  either,  was  a  loose  and 
rambling  distortion  of  the  other.  It  would  have 
been  not  difficult  for  the  Hebrew  narrative  to  be 
thus  transformed  in  the  lapse  of  time,  and  possibly 
by  oral  transmission,  but  hardly  could  even  a  Moses 
have  made  the  consistent  Bible  narrative  out  of 
such  raw  materials.  Brought  suddenly  to  light 
after  being  hidden  away  for  some  twenty-five  hun- 
dred years,  the  Chaldean  epic  is,  even  more  than 
any  of  the  similar  and  allied  traditions,  a  striking 
confirmation  of  the  Biblical  narrative,  to  which  it 
stands  in  the  relation  of  the  shadow  to  the  substance  ; 
and  it  is  a  very  noteworthy  fact  that  this  one  Chal- 

14  Geo.  Smith,  Chaldean  Genesis,  p.  280,  gives  60  cubits  for  the  width  and 
height;  but  Haupt's  authority  is  later  and  better.  Smith  gives  600  cubits  for 
the  length,  which  Haupt  thinks  probable.  Boscawen  omits  all  figures  (p. 
115).  Haupt's  figures  are  given  by  Davis,  Genesis  and  Semitic  Tradition, 
p.  117. 


THE  DELUGE  163 

dean  account  contains  portions  of  the  narrative 
which  the  modern  analysts  have  divided  between 
two  writers,  the  Jehovist  and  the  Elohist.^^ 

III.  The  extent  of  the  Deluge.  Delitzsch  has 
expressed  the  view  now  prevalent  among  sober  ex- 
positors when  he  says,  "  The  Scripture  demands  the 
universality  of  the  flood  only  for  the  earth  as  in- 
habited, not  for  the  earth  as  such."  This  opinion 
or  its  equivalent  was  long  ago  expressed  by  Stilling- 
fleet  and  Poole,  and  is  now  adopted  by  commen- 
tators of  various  evangelical  communions,  such 
as  Turner,  Murphy,  Tayler  Lewis,  Lange,  the 
Speaker's  Commentar}^  the  Handy  Commentary, 
Strack,  and  others.  Dillmann  calls  attention  to  the 
fact  that  such  a  limitation  is  indicated  on  a  close 
examination  of  the  narrative  itself.  Some  of  the 
reasons  that  may  be  given  are  as  follows : 

1.  The  end  announced,  which  was  the  destruc- 
tion of  mankind.  The  entire  submergence  of  the 
whole  earth  would  be  a  superfluous  process,  such 
as  even  the  Divine  Being  is  not  wont  to  perform. 
It  would  also,  as  will  presently  appear,  involve  an 
accumulation  of  miracles  of  which  there  not  only  is 
no  intimation,  but  which  would  seem  to  be  precluded 
by  the  explanation  given  in  the  narrative. 

2.  The  optical  nature  of  the  description,  already 

15  The  larger  part  of  the  Biblical  account  is  ascribed  by  the  critics  to  the 
Elohist.  But  the  following  things  are  found  by  them  only  in  the  Jehovist: 
The  prediction  of  the  rain.  vii.  4;  the  shutting  into  the  ark,  verse  16;  the 
sending  forth  of  the  dove  and  its  return;  the  sending  of  the  raven  and  its 
non-return;  the  building  of  an  altar,  the  offering  of  a  sacrifice,  and  the 
smelling  of  a  sweet  savor; — although  the  "epic"  characteristically  adds, 
"The  gods  like  flies  over  the  Master  the  sacrifice  gathered."  Boscawen 
shows  these  things  conveniently  tabulated  in  his  book,  as  they  are  distinctly 
given  by  Kautzsch.  Thus  the  critics  make  two  of  what  the  Epic  and  the 
Sible  make  one. 


164  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

shown,  limits  the  phraseology.  For  an  eye-witness 
to  recognize  and  say  that  all  the  high  hills  and 
mountains  under  the  whole  heaven  were  covered, 
that  is,  through  the  whole  horizon,  or  as  far  as  the 
eye  can  reach,  is  quite  different  from  a  scientific 
record  that  all  the  mountains  over  the  entire  earth 
were  covered.  The  point  or  mode  of  view  restricts 
the  description. 

3.  The  narrative  itself  makes  one  great  deduc- 
tion from  the  general  breadth  of  the  phraseology 
when  it  says  (vii.  22),  "All  that  was  on  the  dryland 
died." 

4.  The  dimensions  of  the  ark,  as  given,  consti- 
tute a  necessary  limitation.  The  attempt  was  for- 
merly made  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  and  has  since 
been  occasionally  repeated,  to  show  that  the  ark 
could  contain  a  pair  of  each  living  species  and  seven 
of  each  clean  species  of  animals  from  all  parts  of  the 
earth,  with  a  year's  supply  of  food.  Raleigh  reck- 
ons on  the  basis  of  a  hundred  distinct  species  only. 
The  number  of  species  now  known  renders  the  sup- 
position impossible.  ^^ 

5.  A  deluge,  covering  the  entire  earth  and  all 
its  mountains  to  the  depth  of  fifteen  cubits,  would 
involve  the  following  superfluous  and  stupendous 
miracles,  of  which  no  intimation  can  be  found  in 
the  narrative,  some  of  which  are  precluded  by  the 
methods  specified  in  the  narrative : 

16  The  number,  as  given  forty  years  ago,  was  1658  species  of  mammals  (in 
eluding  1,062  clean  species),  600  species  of  birds,  644  of  reptiles.  The  '  'Zoo 
logical  Record"  now  gives  the  species  of  mammals  as  2,500,  birds  12,500,  rep- 
tiles and  batrachians  4,400,  crustaceans  20,000 — to  mention  no  others;  and  the 
entire  number  of  distinct  species,  including  insects,  366,000. 


THE  DELUGE  165 

(i)  The  creation  or  procurement  of  eight  times 
the  present  amount  of  water  on  the  globe,  and  then 
its  destruction  or  removal/^ 

(2)  Provision  of  extraordinary,  if  not  impossible, 
means  of  transportation  of  the  animals  across  inter- 
vening continents  and  oceans,  and  their  return. 

(3)  The  preservation  of  many  species  of  animals, 
tropical  and  arctic  and  others,  away  from  their 
proper  habitats,  climate  and  food. 

(4)  The  re-creation  of  the  large  portions  of  sea 
fish  (e.  g.  corals)  and  perhaps  all  fresh-water  fish, 
and  nearly  all  vegetation,  which  would  have  been 
destroyed  by  such  a  long-continued  inundation  and 
mingling  of  salt  water  and  fresh. 

Now  the  narrative  leaves  room  for  none  of  these 
suppositions.  It  expressly  conflicts  with  some  of 
them.  Thus  it  attributes  the  phenomenon  to  ex- 
isting causes,  namely,  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep  and  the  rain  from  the  windows  of  heaven,  and 
these  only.  These  considerations  would  seem  to 
control  and  interpret  the  case. 

The  general  or  universal  phraseology  might  at 
first  appear  to  stand  in  the  way.  Scripture  usage, 
however,  relieves  the  difficulty.  For  we  not  only 
have  here  the  limitation  of  the  optical  description, 
and  of  the  end  in  view,  and  other  indications  men- 
tioned ;  but  we  find  elsewhere  equally  wide  phrase- 
ology similarly  restricted  in  detail.  Sometimes  it 
is  simply  understood  in  a  restricted  sense  as  well- 
known  popular  usage;  as  when  we  read  (Matt,  ni. 

16  Edward  Hitchcock's  Religion  and  Geology,  p.  128. 


166  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

5,  6),  that  all  Jerusalem,  and  all  Judea,  and  all  the 
region  round  about  went  out  to  John  and  were  bap- 
tized of  him — everybody  went,  as  we  now  some- 
times say — or  (Luke  ii.  i),  there  went  out  a  decree 
from  Caesar  Augustus  that  all  the  world — all  the 
Roman  Vv^orld — should  be  taxed.  These  instances 
are  understood  without  any  explanation  being  given. 
Sometimes  the  broad  statement  is  made  and  limited 
in  the  next  breath ;  as  when  we  read  (Gen.  xli.  54) 
that  "the  dearth  was  in  all  lands,  but  in  the  land  of 
Egypt  there  was  bread."  Sometimes  the  limitation 
appears  later;  as  we  read  (Ex.  ix.  25)  how  the 
hail  smote  every  herb  of  the  field  and  broke  every 
tree  of  the  field,  and  again  (x.  15)  how  the  locusts 
did  eat  every  herb  of  the  land  and  all  the  fruit  of 
the  trees  which  the  hail  had  left.  As  to  the  Flood 
also,  the  needful  limitations  are  involved  in  the  cir- 
cumstances and  implications  of  the  narrative.  The 
suggestion  of  Tayler  Lewis  that  the  scale  would  at 
once  be  reduced  to  our  imagination  by  translating 
"the  whole  land^^  instead  of  the  whole  "earth" 
(which,  he  adds,  would  be  "very  justifiable"),  is  not 
necessary. 

We  may  thus  properly  understand,  as  now  rec- 
ognized, a  deluge  covering  the  earth's  surface  as 
inhabited  by  or  known  to  man,  and  an  unknown  re- 
gion beyond.  The  area  needed  not  to  have  been  a 
very  large  part  of  the  earth's  v/hole  surface.  For 
it  has  been  the  course  of  history  that  nations  scatter 
only  under  the  pressure  of  necessity,  chiefly  as  they 
have  crowded  upon  each  other.     But  if  we  accept 


THE  DELUGE 


167 


as  complete  the  list  of  ten  generations,  from  Adam 
to  Noah  (which,  however,  may  be  doubted),  with 
five  as  the  ratio  of  increase,  it  would  give  a  popu- 
lation of  not  more  than  five  millions,  which  could 
find  room  in  an  area   not  larger  than  the   British 
Islands,  or  even  in  Palestine—which  latter  country 
is  but  about  i8o  miles  in  length,  and  from  the  Jor- 
dan to  the  sea  rarely  more  than  50  miles  in  breadth. 
But  a  circle  800  miles  in  diameter,  having  its  cen- 
ter at  Mosul,  would  extend  but  about  fifty  miles 
into  the  Black,  Caspian  and  Mediterranean  seas, 
and  would  accommodate  a  vastly  larger  population 
than  we  have  mentioned ;  and  if,  as  many  suppose, 
the  human  race  had  been   much  longer  upon  the 
earth,  and  had  become  much  more  numerous,  the 
area  to  be  covered  by  a  destructive  flood  would 
still  be  comparatively  limited. 

IV.     The  method  of  the  Deluge.    If  the  Deluge 
be,  as  has  been  shown,  a  well  substantiated  fact,  w^e 
are  by  no  means  bound  to  explain  the  method.   We 
are  obliged  to  accept  facts  as  such,  constantly,  with- 
out explanation.   But  fortunately  modern  researches 
have  made  it  possible  to  suggest  at  least  a  proxi- 
mate explanation.     The   Scripture   describes  it  by 
saying  that  "the  fountains  of  the   great  deep  were 
broken  up  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened  ;" 
and  that  it  was  terminated  by  a  reversal  of  this  proc- 
ess '''    although  in  the  latter  case  there  is  the  addi- 
tional statement  of  the  noticeabk_external^nom- 

^asT^ig'hlhfwCirS^^ri^^^^^^^^^  te^r  Jnation  of  the  Deluge. 


168  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

enon  that  "God  made  a  wind  to  pass  over  the 
earth."  While  the  narrative  naturally  mentions 
the  most  striking  phenomena  of  the  case,  namely, 
the  violent  rain  (or,  as  some  very  unnecessarily  con- 
jecture, water  spouts),  and  the  wind,  it  can  hardly 
be  doubted  that  the  main  agency  was  that  which  is 
first  mentioned,  the  breaking  up  of  the  fountains  of 
the  great  deep,  that  is,  in  some  way  the  inrush- 
ing  of  the  ocean.  Rainfall,  however  continuous, 
amounts  at  the  utmost  to  but  a  few  inches  in  a  day, 
and  forty  days'  rain,  however  impressive  to  the 
senses,  would  have  been  the  least  of  the  causes. 
The  deluge  was  due  mainly  to  the  "fountains  of 
the  great  deep,"  the  irruption  of  the  ocean. 

Such  a  result,  it  is  now  known,  could  be  accom- 
plished on  a  larger  or  a  smaller  scale  by  the  subsid- 
ence and  re-elevation  of  the  earth's  surface.  Noth- 
ing in  regard  to  the  history  of  the  earth  is  more 
certain  than  the  fact  of  vast  elevations  and  depres- 
sions of  its  surface,  both  protracted  and  sudden, 
some  of  them  going  on  even  now,  but  more  of  them 
in  the  past,  at  dates  that  can  only  be  stated  proxi- 
mately, and  in  geological  measures. 

These  changes  of  level  may  be  described  as  (i) 
gradual  and  secular;  such  as  the  slow  rising  of 
nearly  the  whole  of  Norway  and  Sweden,  where, 
while  south  of  Stockholm  there  has  been  a  slight 
depression,  the  whole  coast  north  of  it  has  risen 
from  loo  to  600  feet  f  the  raised  breaches  of  Chili 
and  Patagonia  for  a  thousand  miles  on  the  eastern 

19  Le  Conte,  Geology  (1891),  p.  135. 


THE  DELUGE  169 

shore  and  2,075  n^il^s  on  the  western,  lifted  from 
100  to  1,300,  and  even  nearly  3,000  feet  ;^"  the 
supposed  subsidence  of  the  coral  region  of  the  Pa- 
cific through  an  area  of  6, coo  miles  by  1,000  or 
2,000,  to  a  depth  of  3,000  and  in  some  places  5,000 
feet"^ — not  to  enumerate  many  known  cases  of  less 
remarkable  change.  These  have  been  slow.  Green- 
land, for  600  miles  north  and  south,  has  been  sink- 
ing for  four  hundred  years.  (2)  Sudden  elevations 
or  depressions  in  connection  with  earthquakes,  of 
greater  or  less  extent.  Instances  are  given  in  the 
modern  geological  treatises,  and  more  numerously 
by  De  Girard."'  Geikie  mentions  the  raising  of  the 
coast  of  Chili  for  a  long  distance  by  the  terrible 
earthquake  of  1822,  and  further  upraising  of  the 
same  coastline  by  subsequent  earthquake  shocks ; 
and  on  the  other  hand  the  sudden  sinking  of  sixt}'- 
four  square  miles  beneath  the  sea  by  the  Bengal 
earthquake  of  1^-^62,^  On  a  larger  scale,  Dana 
and  Le  Conte  both  cite  the  earthquake  of  1819, 
which  shook  the  whole  region  round  the  mouth  of 
the  Indus,  whereby  a  tract  of  land  of  2,000  square 
miles  became  a  salt  lagoon,  while  another  area  fifty 
miles  long  and  ten  to  sixteen  miles  wide  was  ele- 
vated ten  feet."'^       The   latter   author,  after   giving 


20  lb.,  p.  134. 

21  Dana,  Geolopy  (1895),  p.  350;  Le  Conte,  p.  152.  Le  Conte,  however,  men- 
tions that  some  have  doubted  the  necessity  of  this  explanation,  and  Geikie, 
iu  his  Geclogy  (1893),  p.  290,  remarks  that  the  phenomena  of  the  coral  rt-efs 
"/w  some  cases,  at  least,  are  capable  of  explanation  without  subsidence."  IJuc 
Dana  in  1S95  retains  the  statement  given.  Geikie,  however,  asserts  other  in- 
stances of  subsidence. 

22  La  Sismique  Theorie  du  Deluge. 

23  Geology,  pp.  278,  279. 

24  Le  Conte,  p.  112;  Dana,  p.  349. 


170  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

several  other  instances,  adds,  "We  might  multiply 
examples,  if  necessary."  (3)  Vast  geological  suc- 
cessive changes  of  level,  as  when  in  the  glacial 
epoch  on  the  northern  portion  of  this  continent  the 
elevation  was  from  2,000  to  3,000  feet  above  the 
present  level,  and  when  in  the  Champlain  epoch  the 
downward  movement  carried  the  depression  from 
500  to  1,000  feet  below  the  same  level  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  upward  movement  of  the  Terrace 
epoch.  There  was  a  time  when  the  region  of  the 
great  lakes  was  one  immense  lake,  extending  its 
waters  south  over  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and 
the  sea  was  five  hundred  feet  deep  at  Montreal, 
when  the  whale  left  his  bones  on  the  borders  of 
Lake  Champlain,  and  north  of  Lake  Ontario  440 
feet  above  the  present  level  of  the  sea.^^  About  the 
same  time  the  land  in  Scotland  was  depressed 
2,000  feet  below  the  present  level  of  the  sea.  Great 
Britain  was  an  archipelago,  and  a  great  part  of 
northern  Europe  was  submerged.'^  (4)  Rapid  and 
extensive  inundations  such  as  have  been  recently 
affirmed  by  Prestwich  and  Sir  Henry  Howorth, 
presently  to  be  mentioned.  Whether  they  are  to  be 
retrarded  as  connected  with  the  last-mentioned  class 
does  not  distinctly  appear. 

Facts  like  these  go  to  prove  such  a  catastrophe 
as  the  Deluge  to  be  entirely  within  the  range  of 
natural  phenomena,  if  we  choose  to  take  that  view ; 
and  at  all  events  within  the  use  of  the  Power  that 
works  behind  the  wheels  of  nature. 

25  Dana,  pp.  982,  983.  26  Le  Conte,  p.  572. 


THE  DELUGE  171 

Now  many  years  ago  Hugh  Miller  called  atten- 
tion to  a  remarkable  state  of  things  in  the  extensive 
region  lying  east  and  south  of  Mt.  Ararat,  and  ex- 
tending easterly  beyond  the  Caspian  and  Aral  Seas, 
and  southward  in  the  direction  of  the  Persian  Gulf  P 
The  shore  line  of  the  Caspian  is  eighty-three  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  the  steppes 
around  it  are  about  thirty  feet  below  the  level  of 
the  Baltic ;  while  vast  plains,  white  with  salt  and 
charged  with  sea-shells,  show  the  Caspian  to  have 
been  once  far  more  extensive  than  now.  While  the 
human  race  was  still  included  within  the  general 
region  of  its  original  home,  suppose  a  depression, 
such  as  those  actually  on  record  elsewhere,  to  have 
takt:n  place  for  forty  days,  from  the  Euxine  Sea  and 
Persian  Gulf  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Gulf  of  Fin- 
land on  the  other.  This  "breaking  up  of  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep"  would  slowly  and 
surely  have  submerged  that  whole  region  of  perhaps 
2,000  miles  each  way,  sinking  it  far  enough  at  the 
center  to  cover  all  the  hills  of  the  district  "under 
the  whole  heaven."  Meanwhile,  even  if  volcanic 
action  did  not  accompany,  the  atmosphere  might 
have  been  so  filled  with  lonor  and  drenchini^  rains 
as  to  have  made  this  the  most  apprehensible  feature 
of  the  case.  Add  the  supposition  that  after  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  days  the  depressed  hollow  began 
slowly  to  rise  till  it  resumed  its  former  level — and 
we  have  all  the  phenomena  of  the  case. 

In  singular  but  unintentional  confirmation  of  the 

27  Testimony  of  the  Rocks,  Am.  Ed.,  p.  358  seq. 


172  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

entire  possibility  of  such  a  supposition,  we  read  in 
Le  Conte's  Geology  that  at  a  time  which  he  re- 
fers to  the  Champlain  epoch  "the  northern  portion 
of  Asia  and  the  lake  region  of  that  continent  were 
submerged.  The  Caspian  Sea,  Lake  Aral,  and 
other  lakes  in  that  region  were  probably  united  into 
one  great  inland  sea,  connected  either  with  the 
Black  Sea,  or  the  greatly  extended  Arctic  Ocean, 
or  with  both.'*'^^  Dana  says  the  same."^  The  fact 
is  sufficiently  remarkable. 

Recent  researches  bring  us  still  nearer  to  a  defi- 
nite explanation  and  scientific  substantiation  of  the 
Biblical  account.  Sir  Henry  Howorth  in  his  learned 
and  careful  work"'  claims  to  have  established  cer- 
tain great  facts  which  may  be  summarily  stated 
thus :  (i)  A  great  and  general  cataclysm  or  catastro- 
phe at  the  close  of  the  mammoth  period,  by  which 
that  animal  and  its  associates  were  overwhelmed, 
over  a  large  part  of  the  earth's  surface.  (2)  This 
involved  a  widespread  flood  of  water,  which  not 
only  killed  the  animals,  but  also  buried  tlieni  under 
continuous  beds  of  loam  or  gravel.  (3)  It  was  ac- 
companied by  a  very  great  and  sudden  change  of 
climate  in  Siberia,  by  which  the  animals  were 
frozen  in  their  flesh  under  ground  and  have  re- 
mained frozen  ever  since.  (4)  It  took  place  when 
man  was  already  occupying  the  earth,  and  consti- 
tutes the  gap  which  exists  between  palaeolithic  and 
neolithic    man.      (5)  This   is   in  all  probability  the 

28  Geology,  p.  573.     He  cites  three  authorities. 

29  Geology,  p.  Q95.  30  Howorth,  The  Mammoth  and  the  Flood. 


THE  DELUan  W3 

same  event  pointed  out  in  the  traditions  of  so  many 
races,  as  the  primeval  flood;  and  it  "forms  a  great 
break  in  hmxian  continuity,  and  is  the  great  divide 
when  history  really  begins."  As  substantially  con- 
curring in  this  view — which,  as  will  be  perceived,  is 
of  wider  extent  than  is  required  for  the  Scripture 
Deluge,  so  far  at  least  as  the  occurrence  of  a  great 
flood  suddenly  destructive  of  animal  life — he  cites 
several  eminent  names,  including  the  Duke  of 
Argyll.  Sir  J.  W.  Dawson  appears  to  accept  the 
entire  view.^^ 

To  the  same  purport  and  with  even  greater  defi- 
niteness  was  a  paper  of  the   eminent  and   veteran 
geologist,  Joseph  Prestwich,  read  before  the  Vic- 
Toria  Institute  March  19,    1894.''      After  years   of 
investigation    and   inquiry,    extending   over   Great 
Britain  and  the  Continent,  and  the   coasts  of  the 
Mediterranean,    and   including  France,    Gibraltar, 
Sicily,  Malta,  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  North  Africa, 
Egypt,  his  conclusions  fully  coincide   in  the   main 
points  with  those  of  Sir  Henry  Howorth,  but  with 
this  significant  addition,  that  the  depression  and  ele- 
vation took  place  in  a  very  brief  ferwd.     "These 
concurrent  conditions  seem  to  me,  however  startling 
may  be  the  conclusion,  to  be  only  explicable  upon 
the  hypothesis  of  a  widespread  though  local  and 
short  submergence  followed  by  early  re-elevation ; 
and  this  hypothesis  will,  I  think,  be  found  to  satisfy 

31  The  Meeting  Place  of  Geology  and  History. 

32  Journal  of  the  Victoria  Institute,  1894,  PP,  263-284.  It  ^as  discussed  by 
other  geoloeists  with  some  criticism  and  objections.  But  the  author  an 
swered  the  critics  and  adhered  to  his  position. 


174  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

all  the  important  conditions  of  the  problem."  He 
maintains  that  the  opinion  long  held  by  him,  that 
the  close  of  the  glacial  period  (which  was  followed 
by  a  great  inundation)  comes  down  to  within  about 
10,000  or  12,000  years  of  our  time,"  is  forced  on  us 
on  archaeological  grounds  alone."  He  proceeds: 
"We  have  in  the  widespread  catastrophe  involved 
in  the  foregoing  hypothesis  a  more  adequate  cause 
for  the  tradition  of  the  Flood  than  any  local  or  land 
flood,  however  great  it  may  have  been ;  an  inunda- 
tion of  continental  dimensions  and  destructive  to 
large  populations  of  men  and  animals.  The  few 
who  resorted  to  the  heights  and  mountain  summits, 
could  alone  have  escaped,  and  from  these  centers 
peopled  afresh  the  surrounding  areas.  Although 
our  knowledge  of  all  the  phenomena  is  still  very 
imperfect,  it  is  remarkable  how^  in  all  the  leading 
points  the  facts  agree  with  the  tradition.  The 
geological  phenomena  have  also  led  me  to  suppose 
that  the  submergence  w^as,  as  in  the  tradition,  of 
short  duration^  and  the  retreat  of  the  waters  com- 
paratively gradual,  while  the  destruction  of  animal 
life  is  sufficiently  show^n  in  the  numerous  remains 
preserved  in  the  different  forms  of  the  Rubble-drift, 
wherever  the  conditions  were  favorable.  That 
man  lived  at  the  time  we  are  speaking  of  is  now 
a  question  not  necessary  to  argue,  since  the  fact  of 
the  existence  of  paleolithic  or  Quaternary  man, 
over  the  whole  area  we  have  described,  is  at  the 
present  day  a  well  established  fact.  Therefore, 
that  man  must  have  suffered  in  this  great  catastro- 
phe, may  be  taken  for  granted." 


THE  DELUGE  m 

Sir  J.  W.  Dawson  substantially  accords  with  this 
statement  of  facts  and  the  conclusion,  recognizing 
the  comparatively  recent  date  of  palaeolithic  man, 
the  disappearance  of  a  large  number  of  animals 
simultaneously  with  him,  the  separation  of  the  neo- 
lithic from  the  palaeolithic  races  by  a  somewhat 
rapid  physical  change  of  the  nature  of  a  submer- 
gence, or  by  a  series  of  changes  locally  sudden  and 
not  long  continued,  this  being  the  basis  of  all  the 
traditions  and  historic  accounts  of  the  Deluge.  He 
regards  the  Biblical  Deluge  as  the  "record  of  a  sub- 
mergence of  a  vast  region  of  Eur- Asia  and  northern 
Africa,"  and  holds  it  "certain  that  the  post-glacial 
subsidence  which  closed  the  era  of  pakieocosmic 
man  and  his  companion  animals  must  have  been 
one  of  the  most  transient  on  record.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  need  not  limit  the  entire  duration  of  the 
Noachic  submergence  to  the  single  year  whose 
record  has  been  preserved  to  us.  Local  subsidence 
may  have  been  in  progress  throughout  the  later  An- 
tediluvian age,  and  the  experience  of  the  narrator  in 
Genesis  may  have  related  only  to  its  culmination  in 
the  central  district  of  human  residence.  "^'^ 

So  Dillmann,  in  the  sixth  and  last  edition  of  his 
commentary  (1892),  accepts  the  fact  of  a  brief  in- 
undation of  a  limited  area,  and  after  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  human  race.  "The  specifications  of  the 
text  itself  indicate  only  a  partial  submergence  of 
the  earth,  and  indeed  within  the  m.emory  of  man, 
and    there    is    no    reason  to   doubt  its  possibility. 

33  The  Meeting  Place,  etc.,  pp.  128,  12,  9148. 


1^6  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Many  instances  of  seismic-cyclonic  floods  in  lands 
lying  near  the  sea  have  been  collected  by  Suess 
from  historic  times.  There  must  have  been  a 
mighty  flood  of  this  kind  in  high  antiquity, to  which 
reference  is  here  made."  He  concludes  that  all  in- 
dications point  to  east  Armenia  as  the  scene. 

Dillmann's  reference  to  Suess  suggests  the  some- 
what definite  explanation  reached  by  that  writer  in 
his  treatise,  "Die  Sintfluth"(i883).  He  holds  that 
it  was  a  natural  phenomenon  beginning  on  the 
lower  Euphrates,  a  great  and  terrible  inundation 
covering  the  lowlands  of  Mesopotamia ;  the  princi- 
pal cause  was  a  violent  earthquake  in  the  Persian 
Gulf  or  the  neighboring  region,  preceded  by  other 
slighter  shocks ;  and  that  probably  during  the  most 
violent  shocks  a  cyclone  set  in  from  the  south  to 
increase  its  ravages,  and  that  under  these  influences 
the  ark  v/ould  be  carried,  as  it  w^as,  northward  to 
be  stranded  on  the  northern  hills."*  De  Girard  de- 
fends this  theory,  supporting  it  by  additional  details. ^^ 
Delitzsch  says:  "The  circumstances  of  the  Deluge 
have  as  yet  been  better  represented  by  no  one  than 
Edward  Suess  in  a  geological  study,-'  of  which  De- 
litzsch recapitulates  the  chief  points. 

It  will  be  observed  that  while  some  of  these  writ- 
ers assign  a  wider  range  than  others  to  the  phe- 
nomenon, they  all  agree  on  somewhat  definite  facts 
which  would  make  it  fully  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  Biblical  narrative.      And  it  is  no  objection 

34  The  explanation  by  Suess  is  cited  from  De  Girard. 

35  La  Theorie  Sismique  (1892),  pp.  58  seq.    Le  Caractere  Naturel  du  Del- 
uge, p.  120. 


THE  DELUGE  111 

that  their  discussions  proceed  entirely  on  the  basis 
of  natural  phenomena,  but  all  the  more  satisfactory  ; 
inasmuch  as  the  Scripture  expressly  declares  natural 
agencies  to  have  been  the  means  employed  by  God. 
Nor  should  any  of  their  special  subordinate  opinions 
and  theories  cause  us  to  overlook  their  united  testi- 
mony to  the  facts. 

The  result  of  all  these  various  facts  stands  fast. 
The  Scripture  narrative  of  the  Deluge  is  a  sober 
historical  account  of  one  of  the  greatest  and  most 
ineffaceable  events  in  the  history  of  the  human  race  ; 
true,  whether  explicable  or  not,  yet  entirely  ex- 
plicable by  well  known  facts  in  the  phenomena  of 
the  earth's  surface.  In  the  words  of  Howorth,  we 
find  "induction  from  paleontology  and  archaeol- 
ogy compelling  the  same  conclusion  as  the  legend- 
ary myths  and  stories  of  the  children  of  men.  All 
points  unmistakably,  as  it  seems  to  me,  to  a  wide- 
spread catastrophe,  involving  a  flood  on  a  great 
scale.  I  do  not  see  how  the  historian,  the  archaeol- 
ogist, the  paleontologist  can  avoid  making  this 
conclusion  in  future  a  prime  factor  in  their  discus- 
sions, and  I  venture  to  think  that  before  long  it  will 
be  universally  accepted  as  unanswerable ;  not  only 
as  unanswerable,  but  as  alone  explaining  some  at 
least  of  the  difficulties  which  crowd  upon  us  when 
we  study  the  ethnography  of  the  human  race."^® 

36  The  Mammoth  and  the  Flood,  p.  463. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

ANTEDILUVIAN    LIFE 

The  sacred  narrative  prepares  the  way  for  its 
account  of  the  Deluge  by  tracing  the  generations 
down  from  Adam  through  Seth  to  Noah.  The 
genealogy,  as  Ryle  remarks,  "could  hardly  be 
simpler.  Besides  the  names  of  the  patriarchs  we 
are  told  nothing  but  their  ages,  both  at  the  time  of 
their  first-born  and  at  the  time  of  their  death,  and 
the  fact  that  each  of  the  patriarchs  begat  sons  and 
daughters.  Of  the  patriarch  Enoch  alone  is  any 
further  description  given." 

This  extreme  brevity  would  be  naturally  ex- 
plained by  its  great  antiquity,  itself  made  portable 
by  its  simplicity.  The  condition  in  which  its  num- 
bers have  come  down  would  countenance  the  sup- 
position. It  is  certainly  the  occasion  of  very  great 
difficulties,  which  no  skill  in  investigation  or  con- 
jecture on  the  part  of  many  ingenious  men  has  been 
able  to  remove,  or  to  explain  even  on  any  theory 
which  has  been  generally  accepted.  The  funda- 
mental difficulty  is  the  immense  length  of  life 
ascribed  to  these  men,  amounting  in  the  case  of 
Methuselah  to  969  years.  Accordingly  some  have, 
with  Bunsen,  pronounced  it  "intrinsically  impossi- 
ble;" and  Ryle  contends  that  the  unhistorical  char- 
acter of  this  genealogy  should  be  as  freely  admitted 

178 


ANTEDILUVIAN  LIFE  17» 

as  that  of  the  legends  alluded  to  in  the  authorities 
cited  by  Josephus/  This  last  summary  dismissal 
of  the  whole  genealogy,  characteristic  as  it  is  of  no 
little  modern  exposition,  is  as  reasonable  as  it  would 
be  to  discard  the  whole  history  of  Egpyt  as  un- 
founded because  Mariette  Bey  dates  the  beginning 
of  the  Anicent  Empire  B.  C.  5004 ;  Boeckh  puts  it 
a  5702;  Brugsch,  4453;  Lepsius,  3892;  Bunsen, 
3623  ;  Birch,  3000,  and  Wilkinson,  2320.  The  pre- 
cariousness  of  numbers,  both  in  the  ascertainment 
and  the  transmission,  is  notorious.  The  figures  may 
be  erroneous  and  the  list  incomplete  (as  many  sup- 
pose it  to  be),  and  yet  the  genealogy  historical. 
There  lies  before  me  a  genealogical  book  tracing 
an  American  family  down  from  its  distant  English 
ancestry,  in  which  some  of  the  figures  are  incor- 
rect, and  one  whole  American  generation  of  the 
last  century  omitted;  yet  the  table  is  historical, and 
the  line  is  brought  truly  down  to  the  present  gen- 
eration. 

In  regard  to  the  ages  of  the  antediluvians  the 
figures  have  been  an  uncertain  quantity  for  two 
thousand  years  or  more ;  and  we  not  only  do  not 
know  that  we  are  sure  of  them,  but  we  know  some- 
what definitely  that  we  are  not.  For  this  reason : 
there  are  three  very  different  and  divergent  sets  of 
numbers.  The  numbers  of  the  Hebrew  text  give 
a  total  of  1656  years  from  Adam  to  the  Flood ;  the 
Samaritan  text,  of  a  date  not  certainly  settled,  gives 
1307,   and  the  Septuagint,  of  which  Genesis  was 

I  Ryle,  The  Early  Narratives  of  Genesis,  p.  88. 


180  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

translated  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before 
Christ,  gives  2242,  and  according  to  another  read- 
ing 2262.  The  fact  speaks  for  itself;  the  original 
numbers  have  been  in  some  way,  and  for  some  rea- 
son, labored  with,  or  accidentally  modified, possibly 
on  account  of  their  difficulty.  They  may  have  been 
lost  and  conjecturally  restored.  But  such  is  the 
fact ;  we  have  no  absolute  certainty.  Early  in  the 
Christian  Era  the  numbers  of  the  Septuagint  were 
more  commonly  accepted,  and  they  have  been  ad- 
vocated by  some  in  recent  times.  The  prevailing 
opinion  now  is  probably  in  favor  of  the  Hebrew. 
But  the  problem  is  for  the  present  incapable  of  cer- 
tain solution.  Under  the  circumstances,  therefore, 
the  simple  and  obvious  method  of  dealing  with  the 
problem  would  be  to  dismiss  it  with  a  mere  state- 
ment of  the  actual  fact  that  we  do  not  know.  We 
are  satisfied  to  rest  the  case  there.  But  inasmuch 
as  many  may  desire  to  know  what  solutions  have 
been  proposed,  we  will  mention  them. 

I.  Some  have  suggested  shorter  years,  as  short 
even  as  one  month.  This  seems  inadmissible  for 
two  reasons :  first,  because  it  would  make  Enos  a 
father  at  about  the  age  of  7^^  years,  and  Canaan 
^^5^;  and,  secondly,  because  the  antediluvian 
year  is  virtually  determined  in  the  next  chapter, 
where  we  read  of  the  27th  day  of  the  month,  and 
of  the  tenth  month,  and  a  comparison  of  the  several 
dates  indicates  a  year  of  360  days.  The  supposition 
of  a  year  of  three  months,  or  any  less  than  twelve, 
is  baseless. 


ANTEDILUVIAN  LIFE  181 

2.  Some,  with  Bunsen,  have  understood  that 
the  names  designate,  not  persons,  but  "epochs"; 
sometimes  explained  as  the  ascendency  of  a  famil}^ 
as  that  of  Seth,  and  so  on.  Or  they  have  been 
called  "cyclical  periods."  But  the  statement  in 
each  instance  of  the  age  at  v/hich  the  individual  be- 
came a  father,  and  the  particular  cases  of  Enoch, 
Lamech  and  Noah,  appear  incompatible  with  the 
view.  Yet  Delitzsch,  in  the  last  edition  of  his 
commentary,  speaks  of  these  numbers  of  Adam, 
Enos  and  Jared,  as  though  "they  designate  epochs 
of  antediluvian  history  which  are  named  after  their 
chief  representatives,  and  the  period  of  these  epochs 
is  allotted  to  the  individual  life  of  these  chief  rep- 
resentatives, as  though  it  had  extended  over  the 
whole  period." 

3.  An  ingenious  scheme  is  cited  by  Prof.  Alex- 
ander Winchell"  as  devised  by  Rev.  T.  P.  Craw- 
ford. It  interprets  in  each  case  the  first  number  as 
giving  the  actual  life  of  the  individual,  the  second 
that  of  the  continued  ascendency  of  his  family  ;  thus 
Adam  lived  but  130  years,  and  appointed  Seth  (in 
the  place  of  Abel)  to  be  his  successor,  the  family 
rule  being  continued  800  years  more,  in  all  930 
years,  when  Enos  succeeded  in  like  manner.  The 
speculation  has  this  much  of  support,  that  the  Old 
Testament  elsewhere  invariably  uses  a  different 
phraseology  to  designate  the  age  of  a  man  at  any 
definite  time,  namely,  not  that  he  had  "lived"  so 
many  years,  but  that  he  was  "the    son  of"  those 

2  Winchell's  Preadamite  Man,  p.  449  seq. 


182  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

3^ears.  It  would  also  extend  the  time  from  Adam 
to  Christ  to  12,500  years.  But  it  labors  heavily  in 
several  points  :  in  interpreting  "  begot"  as  appointed 
or  constituted  (though  referring  to  Ps.  ii.  7) ;  in  the 
twofold  meaning  ascribed  to  "  lived" ;  in  understand- 
ing the  words  "likeness"  and  "image"  to  mean 
character  and  office. 

4.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  still  writers  of 
high  character  who,  notwithstanding  the  three  dif- 
ferent editions  of  the  numbers,  adhere  to  the  He- 
brew text  and  its  more  obvious  interpretation.  They 
adduce  the  following  considerations: 

(i)  Tho.  pri7na  facte  B.^^e.Q,t  oi  the  several  state- 
ments. 

(2)  The  existence  of  widespread  traditions  of  the 
greatest  ancient  longevity.  Thus  Lenormant,  who 
regards  the  figures  as  "cyclic  numbers,"  asseris 
"the  belief  common  to  all  nations  in  an  extreme 
longevity  among  the  earliest  ancestors  of  the  race." 
He  refers  to  the  well-known  statement  of  Josephus 
that  Hesiod,  Hecat£eus,  Hellanicos,  Acousilaos,  as 
well  as  Ephorus  and  Nicolas  (of  Damascus),  every 
one  relate  that  the  men  of  antiquit}-  lived  a  thou- 
sand years ;  the  assertion  of  Hesiod^  that  in  the  sil- 
ver age  men  remained  with  their  mothers  in  the 
state  of  childhood  for  a  hundred  3^ears ;  the  belief 
of  the  Thynians  that  their  ancestor  lived  500  years, 
and  of  the  Illyrians  that  their  first  two  princes  lived 
600  and  800  years  respectively.*      It  calls  for  ex- 

3  Works  and  Days,  lag,  130. 

4  Lenormant,  Beginnings  of  History,  pp.  292,  294, 


ANTEDILUVIAN  LIFE  183 

planation  how  these  widespread  notions  arose,  un- 
less as  a  reminiscence  of  the  actual  past. 

(3)  The  fact  would  explain  the  early  great  prog- 
ress in  the  arts,  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
mention  later.  With  the  long  contemporaneous 
lives  skill  would  be  accumulated  and  inherited. 
Methuselah  would  have  been  long  contemporary 
with  both  Adam  and  Noah. 

(4)  It  accords  with  the  apparent  reduction  of  the 
length  of  life  according  to  the  Scripture  narrative. 
Three  classes  of  long  life  are  given,  in  a  descend- 
ing scale :  of  the  antediluvians,  ranging  (except 
Enoch)  between  777  and  969;  of  Noah's  earlier 
descendants,  from  230  to  600;  of  Abraham  and  his 
earlier  descendants,  less  than  200  years,  namely, 
Abraham  175,  Isaac  180,  Ishmael  137,  Jacob  147, 
Joseph  no,  Moses  120,  while  Jacob  at  130  pro- 
nounced his  days  "few  and  evil"  and  less  than  those 
of  his  fathers. 

(5)  An  admissible,  or  at  least  possible,  explana- 
tion of  the  change,  namely,  the  resistance  to  decay 
long  offered  by  the  body  in  its  primitive  condition, 
and  prior  to  the  effects  of  steady  abuse  of  the  hu- 
man system  through  ages  of  inherited  degeneration. 
The  wonder  is  that  men  live  now  so  long,  in  their 
luxury,  vices,  and  intemperance  of  every  kind. 
For  though  there  are  modern  well  authenticated  in- 
stances of  lives  extending  much  beyond  a  century, 
if  not  nearer  two  centuries,^  vast  numbers  through 
personal  habits  and  inherited  decay  are  worn  out 

5  See  Appendix,  note  xviii. 


184  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

early,  and  whole  lines  of  ancient  aristocratic  fami- 
lies, like  those  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  and 
the  Earl  of  Warwick  in  England,  have  failed  of  all 
lineal  descendants.  And  on  the  other  hand,  better 
sanitary  arrangements,  together  with  better  medi- 
cal and  surgical  methods,  have  actually  raised  the 
average  length  of  human  life  in  such  countries  as 
England  and  the  United  States. 

In  truth,  as  Kurtz,  Reusch,  Delitzsch,  Zoeckler, 
Strack  and  others  have  well  remarked,  no  man  is 
capable  of  sa3ing  what  length  of  life  was  "possi- 
ble" vv^hen  the  human  constitution  was  in  its  primi- 
tive strength, and  under  very  different  circumstances 
and  conditions  from  those  which  now  prevail— and 
originally  made,  perhaps,  to  pass  away,  not  by  dis- 
ease and  death,  but  by  such  a  transfiguration  as  that 
apparently  of  Enoch  and  Elijah.  Strack  makes  a 
remark  also,  which  may  or  may  not  have  weight, 
that  this  length  of  life  is  not  ascribed  to  all  men, 
but  only  to  the  prominent  personages  of  the  Sethite 
or  godly  race,  while  the  silence  concerning  the 
limits  of  life  in  the  Cainite  family  m.ay  well  be  re- 
garded as  significant.  He  accepts  the  suggestion  of 
2^oeckler  that  this  long  life  of  the  antediluvians 
was  "the  after-glow  of  the  glory  of  paradise." 

The  difficulty  of  pronouncing  summaril}^  on  the 
possible  length  of  life  under  changed  conditions  is 
well  illustrated  in  the  case  of  tree  life,  or  even  ani- 
mal life.  One  who  is  accustomed  only  to  trees 
like  the  poplar  or  the  maple,  decaying  perhaps 
within    less    than  a    centur}^,     might    assert    very 


ANTEDILUVIAN  LIFE  185 

confidently  that  it  was  impossible  for  a  tree  to  live 
two  thousand  years ;  but  we  have  the  great  author- 
ity of  Professor  Whitney  and  Asa  Gray  that  the 
Sequoia  of  California  has  attained  more  than  that 
age/  while  it  is  also  to  be  noted  that  such  a  growth 
and  age  are  to  be  found  now  only  under  those  con- 
ditions^ and  in  those  very  regions.  The  olive  is  a 
hardy  fruit  tree,  but  it  will  thrive  only  in  certain 
parts  of  the  Spanish  peninsula  ;  and  while  in  France 
the  severe  winter  of  1709  killed  all  the  olive  trees 
in  that  country  and  the  adjacent  parts  of  Italy, there 
is  near  Nice  a  tree  thirt3'-eight  feet  in  diameter,  re- 
corded as  an  old  tree  in  1516,  and  another  at  Pescio 
said  to  be  700  years  old,  and  some  at  Jerusalem 
undoubtedly  far  older.  Animal  life  is  for  the  most 
part  short,  much  of  it  very  short,  far  within  the 
lifetime  of  man.  Yet  it  is  Sir  John  Lubbock  who 
reminds  us  how  little  we  know  of  the  age  to  which 
animals  can  or  actually  do  live.  He  proceeds  cau- 
tiously thus:  "The  camel  is  said  to  reach  100 
years,  the  elephant  200, the  Greenland  whale  40o(  ?). 
A  pike  is  said  to  have  been  taken  in  Suabia  in  1499 
with  a  ring  inscribed  v/ith  a  date  and  statement 
which  would  make  it  267  years  old.  A  tortoise  is 
said  to  have  reached  500  years." 

Such  facts  and  admonitions  as  these  strongly  sug- 
gest the  necessity  of  caution  in  saying  what  can 
and  what  cannot  be.  So  do  the  very  latest  discover- 
ies in   regard   to   the   functions  of  light,  electricity 

6  See  an  article  by  Asa  Gray  in  Johnson's  Cyclopaedia,  2nd  Edition,  vol. 
vii.,  p.  133. 


186  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

and  sound.  For  any  man  to  say  what  was  impos- 
sible as  to  human  life  many  thousand  years  ago, 
under  what  may,  and  what  purports  to,  have  been 
very  different  conditions,  is  not  merely  idle,  it  is 
presumptuous. 

The  conclusion  to  which  we  may  come  is  that  we 
are  at  liberty,  if  we  choose,  to  hold  to  the  figures 
of  the  Hebrew  text,  saying  that,  notwithstanding 
the  objections,  there  are  some  important  consider- 
ations in  its  favor ;  or  to  take  the  ground  that  the 
changes  of  the  three  sets  of  numbers  and  their  pres- 
ent divergence  are  such  as  to  forbid  any  positive 
decision  or  solution.  The  latter  may  be  the  wiser 
course. 

Another  matter  connected  with  this  early  history 
calls  for  attention.  The  brief  and  therefore  some- 
what obscure  account  prefixed  to  the  narrative  of 
the  Flood  has  been  made  the  occasion  of  strange 
ingenuity.  The  marriage  of  the  "sons  of  God  and 
the  daughters  of  men"  is  interpreted  by  a  whole 
class  of  writers,  who  pronounce  the  early  history 
of  the  Scriptures  to  be  mythical,  and  by  many 
others  in  deference  to  their  authority,  as  describing 
a  sexual  union  between  angels  and  women — al- 
though most  of  these  writers  discard  the  supernat- 
ural. The  attempt  to  burden  the  narrative  with 
such  an  absurdity  is  needless. 

A  perfectly  simple  and  consistent  interpretation 
is  the  one  commonly  accepted  by  the  evangelical 
churches.  It  is  entirely  defensible.  The  account 
joins  on  easily  and  directly  to  the  history  where  it 


ANTEDILUVIAN  LIFE  187 

was  interrupted  by  the  insertion  of  the  "genera- 
tions" or  genealogy  of  the  sons  of  Adam,  The  last 
verse  preceding  (ch.  iv.  26)  had  said,  "Then  began 
men  to  call  upon  the  name  of  Jehovah" — men  of  the 
Sethite  race.  The  passage  immediately  following 
this  interruption  speaks  of  the  "sons  of  God,"  and 
most  naturally  refers  to  this  same  pious  race,  these 
worshipers  of  Jehovah,  and  it  becomes  a  continuous 
account.  The  daughters  of  men,  so  called  by  con- 
trast, are  the  worldly  and  sensual  line  of  Cain.  It 
was  a  grave  error,  and  attended  with  the  grave  re- 
sults immediately  announced — the  "mighty  men," 
and  the  earth  filled  with  violence.  There  is  no 
special  difficulty  with  the  first  phrase,  "sons  of 
God."  (i)  It  is  prepared  for  by  the  statement  in 
iv.  26,  from  which  it  is  separated  only  by  the  gene- 
alogy. (2)  The  equivalent  idea  of  the  divine  son- 
ship  of  God's  chosen  seed  occurs  in  the  early  Script- 
ures (Ex.  iv.  2 ;  Deut.  xiv.  i ;  xxxii.  5  ;  Is.  1,  2 ; 
Ps.  Ixxiii.  15  ;  Hos.  i.  10).  It  has  been  objected 
that  the  phrase  here  employed  is  not  children  of 
God,  but  of  Jehovah.  It  hardly  seems  a  weighty 
difference,  and  does  not  hold  good  of  Deut.  xxxii. 
5  and  Hos.  i,  10.  True,  the  term,  sons  of  God, 
is  in  some  instances  applied  to  the  angels  (Job  i. 
6;  ii.  I ;  Ps.  xxix.  11  ;  xxxix.  7,  R.  V.),  and  these 
passages  have  been  made  the  basis  for  the  singular 
interpretation.  But  it  is  spoken  of  them  in  their 
high  spiritual  character,  not  of  fallen,  seducing 
spirits  as  they  would  be  on  this  supposition.  (3) 
The  narrative  itself  does  not  speak  of  illicit  connec- 


188  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

tions,  as  would  be  assumed  in  the  false  interpreta- 
tion, but  of  permanent  marriages — "took  them 
wives."  (4)  The  notion  of  a  union  between  angels 
and  women  of  earth  is  so  absurd  as  scarcely  to  need 
the  assertion  of  the  Savior  that  in  heaven  they 
neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as 
the  augeh  of  God.  (5)  The  results  predicated  cor- 
respond to  the  natural  interpretation.  The  combi- 
nation of  the  long-lived  and  vigorous  Sethites  with 
the  progressive  and  inventive  Cainites  was,  as  seen 
in  the  mingling  of  other  remarkable  races,  a  race 
of  "mighty  men,  men  of  renown,"  but  also  of  in- 
surgent wickedness.  (6)  The  subjects  of  punish- 
ment sustain  the  natural  interpretation.  God  is  not 
described  as  punishing  angels  or  their  offspring, 
but  wicked  and  violent  men. 

These  various  considerations  make  the  present 
interpretation  not  only  clear,  but  well  nigh  unavoid- 
able. No  parade  of  learned  names  need  shake 
confidence  in  it.  The  main  objection  that  can  be 
urged  is  founded  on  the  antithetic  phrase,  "daugh- 
ters of  m.en.''^  This  has  been  pronounced  "decisive." 
But  it  certainly  is  not.  The  antithesis  is  natural 
and  obvious,  between  those  who  belong  to  the  line 
of  God's  children,  still  holding  a  filial  relation  to 
their  Maker,  and  those  who  had  willfully  broken 
the  Divine  relationship  and  become  distinctively  and 
onh^  human.  It  tells  the  stor}^  in  a  word.  If  it  be 
said  that  the  addition  of  the  word  "other,"  so  as  to 
read  "other  men,"  would  have  avoided  ambiguity, 
it  is  to  be  replied,  the  word  is  here  both  inadmissi- 


ANTEDILUVIAN  LIFE  189 

ble  and  unnecessary.  Inadmissible,  because  it  had 
just  been  said  that  men  had  multiplied  and  daugh- 
ters were  born  to  them — to  these  men,  not  to  other 
men.  Unnecessary,  if  admissible,  because  such 
careful  precision  does  not  belong  to  this  brief  and 
simple  style.  Moreover,  such  omissions  are  not 
uncommon.  Thus  (Gen.  xiv.  i6)  we  read  of  "the 
women  and  the  people,"  that  is,  the  rest  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  sofjer.  xxxii.  20)  "in  Israel  and  among  men," 
that  is,  as  the  word  is  supplied  in  the  rendering, 
other  men;  and  (Ps.  Ixxxiii.  5)  "they  are  not  in 
trouble  as  men,"  other  men,  "neither  are  they 
plagued  like  men."  Similar  usages  of  exceptions 
not  stated  in  form,  because  anticipated  in  substance, 
are  sufficiently  common  in  the  Scriptures. 

Without  further  discussion,  we  need  not  hesitate 
to  say,  if  not,  with  Strack,  that  this  is  the  only  pos- 
sible interpretation,  yet  that  it  is  the  only  natural 
and  admissible  one.  When  so  understood,  the  nar- 
rative presents  no  monstrous  myth,  but  a  series  of 
events  as  credible  and  seemingly  historical  in  their 
character  and  consequences  as  the  invasion  of  Eng- 
land by  the  Danes. 


CHAPTER  IX 

ANTEDILUVIAN  OCCUPATIONS 

In  reviewing  the  glimpses  given  of  the  condition 
and  occupations  of  the  race  in  antediluvian  times, 
we  are  pushing  still  farther  back  of  ail  other  his- 
tory, and  must  judge  of  it  by  its  consistency  and 
its  correspondence  with  such  fragmentary  indica- 
tions as  we  can  trace  from  the  remotest  ages.  And 
here  the  narrative  will  stand  the  test. 

It  is  very  noteworthy  how  different  is  the  condi- 
tion of  man  in  paradise  from  that  of  man  of  '4he 
golden  age."  Ovid,  writing  in  the  Augustan  age 
and  at  the  capital  of  the  world,  described  a  time  of 
absolute  idleness,  when  the  untilled  soil  produced 
its  heavy  crops,  with  the  absurd  addition  of  rivers 
flowing  now  with  milk  and  now  with  nectar,  and 
the  yellow  honey  dripping  from  the  green  oak. 
The  Scripture  gives  the  first  man,  what  man  must 
have,  something  to  do.  But  it  is,  as  it  must  have 
been,  of  the  simplest  kind,  the  care  of  the  garden. 
Skin  clothing,  also  ascribed  to  him,  is  the  common 
form  of  primitive  dress  as  found  in  the  caves  at 
Mentone  and  Cromagnon,  among  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indians,  or  even  now  among  the  Russian  peas- 
ants in  winter.  The  first  man  is  represented  only 
as  having  a  capacity  for  speech,  developed,  how- 
ever, in  the  most  natural  mode,  naming  the  animals 

190 


ANTEDILUVIAN  OCCUPATIONS  191 

brought  to  his  attention.  He  has  strong  conjugal 
instincts,  and  an  experience  which  exposes  him  to 
temptation  and  fall. 

The  next  stage  of  life  shows  progress,  but  limited 
still.  One  of  the  second  generation  has  his  small 
cattle  only,  sheep  (and  goats),  an  employment  of 
the  simplest  kind.  The  other  has  begun  to  culti- 
vate the  soil.  The  offering  of  the  sacrifices,  and 
the  use  of  milk  from  the  flock,  might  imply  the  use 
of  fire,  and  perhaps,  but  not  necessarily,  of  pottery. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  although  some  (like  Lubbock) 
have  been  inclined  to  doubt  the  possession  of  fire 
by  the  paleolithic  man,  it  is  now  asserted  on  ap- 
parently abundant  evidence  by  Winchell,  Nadaillac, 
Joly  and  Quatrefages.^  This  also  conforms  to  the 
classic  story  that  Prometheus  stole  it  from  heaven. 
Pottery,  though  denied  by  some  to  paleolithic 
times,  has  certainly  been  found  in  connection  with 
the  bones  of  the  mammoth  and  the  cave  bear.^ 
How  graphically  true  is  the  brief  account  of  the 
most  terrible  fruit  of  the  fall,  the  first  murder :  the 
envy,  the  anger,  the  fatal  deed,  the  remorse,  the 
terror,  the  removal,  and  the  stronghold  inspired  by 
terror!  The  "city*'  which  he  built  has  been  prop- 
erly understood  in  the  general  and  loose  sense  in 
which  the  word  is  used  in  the  early  narrative.  Thus 
there  were  124  cities  in  Judah's  portion  of  the  land 
of  Palestine,  and    119   in   the   rest  of  the  territory 

1  Joly,  Man  Before  Metals,  p.  189.  Quatrefages,  The  Human  Species,  pp. 
152,  319.  Nadaillac,  Prehistoric  Peoples,  p.  loi.  Winchell,  Preadamite  Man, 
p.  415,  expresses,  however,  only  an  opinion.  Lubbock,  Prehistoric  Times,  p. 
558,  speaks  his  doubt  hesitatingly. 

2  Joly,  p.  307;  Nadaillac,  pp.  96,  97. 


192  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

west  of  the  Jordan.  In  Isaiah  i.  8  it  designates  a 
watch-tower.  In  much  later  days  the  stronghold 
of  Troy  was  of  small  compass,  as  was  that  of  La- 
chish,  recently  excavated.  The  enclosure  of  the 
conical  hill  at  the  Egyptian  mines  of  Wady  Maghara 
was  but  600  by  260  feet.  Gesenius  and  Fuerst  both 
suggest  in  this  narrative  simply  a  nomad  encamp- 
ment, defended  perhaps  by  a  ditch  or  wall,  as  the 
former  suggests,  for  protection.  This  "cit}^"  im- 
plies also  permanenc}^  and  that  facilitated  the  re- 
markable progress  which  is  recorded  as  subse- 
quently taking  place  in  the  line  of  Cain's  descend- 
ants. For  while  we  learn  that  there  Vv^as  one  line 
of  the  early  race  that  began  to  call  upon  the  name 
of  Jehovah,  the  great  worldly  development  in  the 
arts  is  recorded,  as  we^  might  expect,  in  the  line  of 
Cain. 

The  consistency  of  the  narrative  also  appears  in 
the  fact  that  the  great  progress  did  not  come  till 
after  seven  recorded  generations  from  Adam.  It 
was  in  the  remarkable  family  of  Lamech.  Any 
one  who  should  incline  to  doubt  the  possibility  of 
such  a  wide  and  apparently  rapid  outburst  has  but 
to  recall  the  history  of  Europe  in  the  half  century 
from  1450  to  1500  A.  D.,  or  the  still  more  extra- 
ordinary physical  progress  of  the  centmy  about  to 
close. 

First  is  mentioned  Jabal  as  the  head  or  leader  of 
those  that  dwell  in  the  tents  and  have  cattle.  The 
advance  from  the  keeping  of  sheep  and  goats  to 
that  of  larger  cattle  is  a  marked  and  consistent  ac- 


ANTEDILUVIAN  OCCUPATIONS  193 

count  of  progress.  The  dwelling  in  tents  naturally 
involves  the  art  of  spinning  and  weaving,  as  the 
Bedaween  of  the  present  day  dwell  in  tents  spun 
and  woven  from  the  hair  of  their  domestic  animals. 
The  art  of  weaving  antedates  all  historic  knowl- 
edge. While  we  do  not  find  evidence  of  it  among 
the  cave-dwellers  of  Europe,  woven  cloth  appears 
in  the  Lake  Dwellings.  The  best  linen  of  Egypt, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  both  Wilkinson  and 
Erman,  was  not  inferior  to  our  cambric,  and  in 
smoothness  and  softness  almost  comparable  to  our 
silk.^  This  is  true  of  its  quality  as  early  as  the 
sixth  dynasty,  and  nothing  is  known  of  its  begin- 
ning. Cotton  and  woolen  garments  were  also 
made.  Equally  remote  is  the  care  of  cattle.  In 
almost  every  tomb  of  the  Old  Empire  we  meet 
with  the  herdsman  and  his  animals,  and  even  then 
there  were  fancy  breeds.^ 

The  narrator  walks  on  equally  sure  ground  when 
he  assigns  the  harp  and  pipe  (R.  V.),  or  wind  and 
stringed  instruments,  to  the  remotest  antiquity. 
Paintings  in  the  Egyptian  tombs,  both  of  the  earlier 
and  the  later  times,  show  a  very  great  number  of 
such  instruments,  of  both  kinds :  single  pipe, 
double  pipe,  flute,  lyre,  lute  and  harp,  as  well  as 
drums,  tambourines,  cymbals.  The  stringed  in- 
struments were  singularly  various  in  shape,  size 
and  number  of  strings,  from  the  light  lyre  of  three 
strings  to  the  tall  harp  exceeding  the  height  of  a 

3  Wilkinson's  Ancient  Egyptians,  ii.,   p.    i6i.      Erman's  Life  in  Ancient 
Egypt,  pp.  448. 

4  Wilkinson,  i.,  p.  431  seq.     Erman,  p.  262  seq. 


184  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

man.  The  paintings  represent  harps  with  four, 
six,  seven,  eight,  nine,  ten,  eleven,  twelve,  fourteen, 
seventeen,  twenty,  twenty-one  and  twenty-two 
strings,  although  not  all  of  the  Old  Empire.^  Some 
of  them  come  down  from  the  earliest  period  of 
known  history.  The  Assyrian  sculptures,  though 
of  less  ancient  date,  show  the  harp,  double  pipe 
and  drum.^ 

It  was  a  bold  statement  of  the  sacred  writer  to 
assign  the  forging  of  instruments  of  iron  and  brass, 
or  rather  copper  (R.  V.,  margin),  to  that  early  age. 
But  in  Egypt  the  use  of  copper  is  older  than  our 
historic  knowledge.  Copper  mines  were  wrought 
by  the  Egyptians  at  Wady  Maghara  in  Sinai  before 
the  building  of  the  great  pyramid,  as  is  attested  by 
the  cartouch  of  king  Snefru  at  that  place,  and  the 
ore  and  slag  found  there.  And  even  the  manufact- 
ure of  bronze  took  place  under  the  Old  Empire, 
and  was  carried  to  a  perfection  indicating  long  prac- 
tice.' The  Babylonians  also  used  copper  early  and 
abundantly.  Loftus  found  at  Tell  Sifr  what  ap- 
peared to  be  the  stock  in  trade  of  a  coppersmith, 
supposed  by  Rawlinson,  from  the  accompanying 
tables,  to  be  about  1500  B.  C.  The  great  variety 
of  these  objects,  and  the  skill  exhibited,  also  in- 
volved long  continued  use  and  practice:  "large 
chaldrons,  vases,  small  dishes,  hammers,  chisels, 
adzes  and  hatchets ;  a  large  assortment  of  knives 
and  daggers  of  various  sizes  and  shapes — all  unfin- 

5  Wilkinson,  i.,  pp.  435-493- 

6  Layard's  Babylon  and  Nineveh,  p.  456. 

7  Erman,  pp.  460,  461. 


ANTEDILUVIAN  OCCUPATIONS  195 

ished;  massive  and  small  rings  ;  a  pair  of  prisoner's 
fetters ;  three  links  of  a  strong  chain  ;  a  ring  weight ; 
several  plates  resembling  horses'  shoes,  divided  at 
the  head  for  the  insertion  of  a  handle,  and  having 
two  holes  in  each  for  the  insertion  of  links ;  other 
plates  of  a  different  shape  ;  an  ingot  of  copper ;  and 
a  great  weight  of  dross  from  the  same  smelted 
metal.  "^  And  in  1888  the  expedition  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  discovered  in  their  excava- 
tions at  Nuffar,  among  a  vast  number  of  other 
things,  objects  of  bronze,  which  would  appear  from 
their  connection  to  be  of  far  older  date.^  At  His- 
sarlik  not  only  do  copper  and  bronze  occur  in  the 
second  city,  the  Troy  stratum,  but  bronze  objects 
were  found  in  the  still  older  city  of  the  first  stratum.^'' 
The  use  of  copper  and  even  of  bronze  thus  recedes 
to  a  period  beyond  all  historic  knowledge. 

The  statement  concerning  the  working  of  iron  is 
still  bolder.  For  until  recently  it  has  been  doubted, 
though  now  conceded,  that  iron  w^as  used  in  early 
Egypt.  It  occurs  there  only  in  small  quantities. 
Not  only  were  iron  deposits  of  any  considerable  ex- 
tent remote  from  Egypt,  but  the  difficulty  of  smelt- 
ing it  was  not  easily  overcome.  And  though  at 
Wady  Maghara  and  Surabit  el  Khadim  there  is 
iron  in  the  ore  and  the  slag,  it  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  smelted  whenthecopper  was  extracted." 

8  Loftus,  Chaldea  and  Susiana,  p.  269. 

9  Hilprecht  in  Recent  Research  in  Bible  Lands,  p.  62. 

10  Schuchhardt's  Schliemann's  Excavations,  pp.  63,  69,  37. 

11  A  piece  of  slag  brought  by  the  writer  from  Wady  Maghara  contained 
23  per  cent  of  iron  and  less  than  one-tenth  per  cent  of  copper.  Ore  from 
Surabit  el  Khadim  contained  31  per  cent  of  copper  and  12  per  cent  of  iron, 


196  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

So  in  Greece.  It  was  but  quite  recently  that  two 
lumps  of  iron  were  found  in  the  second  or  Homeric 
city  at  Hissarlik ;  and  in  the  graves  at  Mycenae  it 
has  been  found  only  in  the  form  of  a  few  finger- 
rings/^  although  known  to  Homer  as  used  for  both 
tools  and  weapons.  ^^  But  when  we  reach  western 
Asia,  where  the  early  population  had  its  home, 
where  the  narrative  had  its  origin,  and  where  also 
the  metal  exists  in  the  mountains,  we  find  iron  in 
the  earliest  times  to  which  we  can  penetrate,  and 
in  comparatively  free  use.  At  Nineveh,  in  the 
northwest  palace  at  Nimroud,the  oldest  of  all,  dating 
probably  nearly  nine  hundred  years  before  Christ, 
Layard  found  in  one  chamber  "a  large  quantity  of 
iron"  and  "recognized  it  as  scales  of  the  armor  rep- 
resented on  the  sculptures.  Each  scale  was  sepa- 
rate and  was  of  iron,  two  or  three  inches  in  length, 
rounded  at  one  end  and  squared  at  the  other,  with 
a  raised  or  embossed  line  in  the  center."  Though 
badly  decomposed,  there  were  several  baskets  full 
of  these  relics.  As  the  earth  was  removed,  other 
portions  of  armor  were  discovered,  some  of  copper, 
some  of  iron,  others  of  iron  inlaid  with  copper. 
Several  iron  helmets  of  various  shapes  were  found, 
although  so  rusted  that  they  fell  to  pieces.*^  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  such  articles  involve  a  long 
previous  process  of  manufacture.  The  direct  proof 
is  not  wanting.  Thothmes  III.  of  Egypt,  whom 
Brugsch  assigns  to  1600  B.  C,  has  recorded  in  his 

12  Schuchhardt,  pp.  332,  396. 

13  Iliad,  vii.,  141;  viii.,  15;  vi.,  48.     Od.,  i.,  204;  ix.,  391,  etc. 

14  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  ii.,  pp.  277,  278. 


ANTEDIL  UVIAN  OCCUPA  TIONS  197 

great  inscription  at  Karnak  the  spoil  brought  by 
him  from  his  warlike  expeditions  into  western  Asia. 
Among  them  were  two  suits  of  iron  armor,  and 
iron  vessels  from  the  king  of  Megiddo,  an  iron  suit 
of  armor  decorated  with  gold  from  the  kings  of 
Ruthen,  vessels  of  iron  and  bronze  from  Tunip, 
iron  suits  of  armor  and  fine  iron  helmets  from  Na- 
harain  (Mesopotamia),  iron  from  the  land  of  Punt, 
and,  once  more,  iron  suits  of  armor  and  weapons 
from  Naharain.^^  These  records  show  an  exten- 
sive use  and  skillful  manufacture,  necessarily  in- 
volving a  long  preceding  use.  Thus  this  ancient 
historic  record  of  the  Scriptures  points  back  into  a 
still  more  remote  past,  in  confirmation  of  the  remote 
invention.  In  still  further  harmony  with  the  record 
is  the  fact  that  not  only  do  iron  mines  abound  in 
the  Tyari  mountains  of  Armenia,'^  but  iron  is  found 
in  great  quantities  scattered  on  the  sides  of  the 
mountains  three  or  four  days  from  Mosul.  ^^  An 
additional  consistency  in  the  whole  narrative  is 
seen  in  the  fact  that  such  a  structure  as  the  ark  at 
a  later  time  would  require  the  progress  in  metal- 
lurgy here  indicated.  Certainly  the  one  would  in 
part  explain  the  other.  It  has  been  shrewdly  sug- 
gested, of  course  with  much  less  cogency,  that  the 
homicide  or  murder  for  which  Lamech  expected  to 
go  unpunished,  may  have  been  one  of  the  conse- 
quences of  this  forging  of  ''  every  cutting  instrument 
of  copper  and  iron,"  it  being  mentioned  in  the  im- 
mediate sequel. 

15  Brugsch,  History  of  Egypt,  pp.  364,  373-385. 

j6  Layard's  Nineveh,  i.,  p.  190.  17  Id.,  ii.,  p.  315. 


198  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

The  song  which  Lamech  addresses  to  his  wives 
accords  with  the  historic  fact  that  the  beginnings 
of  music  have  been  early  coupled  with  the  sister 
art  of  song.  In  its  subject-matter  it  shows  "a 
titanic  arrogance"  in  crime  founded  on  the  impunity 
of  the  first  murder,  preparing  the  v/ay  for  and  ne- 
cessitating, not  only  the  subsequent  destruction  of 
the  race  for  its  great  wickedness,  but  a  reconstruc- 
tion with  a  new  legislation  inflicting  the  death  pen- 
alty for  murder. 

But  while  the  w^orldly  career  and  the  rapid  de- 
velopment of  the  arts  of  living  and  luxury  are  go- 
ing on  in  the  line  of  Cain,  and  that  family  is  dis- 
missed from  the  view,  the  promise  of  the  Maker 
(presently  to  be  discussed)  begins  to  find  its  fulfill- 
ment, not  only  in  the  last  words  of  the  common 
mother,  but  in  the  religious  revival  in  the  line  of 
Seth — however  transient  it  may  have  been — when 
men  began  to  call  upon  the  name  of  Jehovah.  Here, 
apparently,  are  found  ''the  sons  of  God"  who  are 
spoken  of  in  the  narrative  of  chapter  vi. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  PRIMITIVE  CONDITION 

In  thus  tracing  the  Scripture  narrative  upwards 
we  reach  the  account  of  the  temptation  and  fall, 
which,  however,  cannot  well  be  considered  before 
an  examination  of  their  previous  condition.  The 
history  of  the  work  of  creation  must  also  be  de- 
ferred, though  at  some  disadvantage. 

The  account  of  creation  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  is  followed  by  a  brief  explanatory  state- 
ment concerning  man,  preliminary  to  the  subse- 
quent narrative,  and  alluding  only  to  such  points  as 
bear  on  the  writer's  purpose.  These  points  are  se- 
lected, not  in  the  order  of  sequence,  as  in  the  cre- 
ation narrative,  but  by  the  laws  of  association,  as 
connected  with  the  destiny  of  man,  which  now  be- 
comes the  theme,  man  himself  being  the  center. 
First  we  are  told  specifically  of  man's  twofold  na- 
ture (ii.  7),  formed  not  only  of  the  dust  of  the  ground 
but  with  the  inbreathing  of  God,  in  contradistinc- 
tion from  the  animal  world  made  "out  of  the  ground" 
only.  This  is  preceded,  however,  by  a  reference 
to  the  changed  condition  of  things  from  the  time 
when  there  was  no  man  because  the  earth  was  not 
prepared  for  his  residence  (verses  5,  6).  These 
allusions  are  preparatory  to  the  Eden  narrative. 
The  endeavor  to  find  here  a  second,  and  especially 

199 


200  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

a  conflicting,  narrative  is  unnecessary.  The  well- 
known  change  from  the  use  of  Elohim  to  Jehovah 
Elohim,  is  as  well  explained  by  saying  that  it  pur- 
posely identifies  the  God  of  creation  with  the  God 
of  Israel,  as  by  supposing  a  different  writer ;  and 
the  omission  of  all  details  not  required  for  the  ob- 
ject in  view,  and  the  mention  of  those  that  are  given 
in  their  present  relations  rather  than  their  previous 
sequence,  is  the  simple,  natural  and  wise  method. 
The  proceeding  is  no  more  peculiar  than  the  brief 
retrospective  notices  and  recapitulations  with  which 
other  narrators  often  commence  a  new  chapter  to 
make  a  connection ;  as,  for  example,  in  the  open- 
ing of  the  third  and  fourth  chapters  of  Macaulay's 
History  of  England,  and  any  number  of  instances. 
It  is  a  narrowness  of  view  to  make  so  much  of  this 
very  simple  and  common  thing  as  has  been  done  by 
some  writers. 

At  the  same  time  a  use  of  older  documents, 
adopted  and  thereby  sanctioned  by  an  author,  no 
more  detracts  from  his  proper  authorship,  than  is 
the  similar  method  of  Bancroft  and  other  historians 
inconsistent  with  their  historic  function.  As  has 
been  already  intimated,  there  are  good  reasons  and 
somewhat  clear  indications  for  the  belief  that  such 
was  the  fact  in  regard  to  the  narrative  of  Genesis. 
There  is  no  valid  reason  for  holding,  even  if  Moses 
was  the  responsible  author  of  the  book,  that  all  the 
facts  antecedent  to  his  time,  any  more  than  those  of 
his  own  time,  were  miraculously  revealed  to  him, 
when  there  are  indications  or  probabilities  of  nat- 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CONDITION  201 

ural  methods.  It  has  never  been  God's  way  to 
supersede  natural  methods  by  supernatural  when 
the  former  were  sufficient.  But  the  practicability 
of  dividing  up  and  accurately  sorting  out  all  these 
sources,  and  especially  of  detruding  them  from  a 
high  antiquity  and  authentic  value,  is  a  very  differ- 
ent thing.  We  are  at  present  concerned  only  with 
the  truthfulness  of  the  narrative ;  and  so  far  as  that 
is  sustained,  the  other  questions  are  comparatively 
unimportant.  In  the  present  instance  it  would  be 
a  matter  of  indifference  whether  here  are  one  or 
two  narratives,  provided  they  are  not  in  conflict,  as 
under  any  fair  treatment  they  are  not.  All  the 
phenomena,  however,  may  be  perfectly  explained 
on  the  supposition  of  one  continuous  narrative.  It 
is  idle  to  expect  a  writer  to  go  over  all  the  details 
of  a  narrative  a  second  time  ;  equally  idle  to  require 
or  expect  him  in  his  allusions  to  his  former  account, 
for  a  very  different  purpose  and  from  an  entirely 
different  standpoint,  to  refer  to  them  in  the  same 
order. 

The  writer  alludes  to  facts  already  mentioned 
just  so  far  as  they  concern  this  new  portion  of  the 
history,  and  no  farther.  He  refers  to  man's  pecu- 
liar diversity  from  the  animal  world  and  yet  his  re- 
lation to  them,  and  no  more ;  to  the  plants  and 
herbs  (ii.  5)  generally,  saying  nothing  of  their  bear- 
ing seed  or  fruit ;  to  the  trees  of  the  garden  where 
man  was  to  be  placed,  and  no  others;  to  the  cattle, 
fowls  and  beasts  with  which  the  man  was  brought 
in  connection,  and  not  to  the  immense  sea  life  and 


202  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

great  monsters  (i.  20,  21)  with  which  he  is  not 
now  concerned.  Why  any  one  should  insist  on  find- 
ing a  different  and  second  narrative  in  this  discre- 
tionary and  discreet  reference  is  not  very  obvious. 
But  it  is  said  that  there  is  an  actual  conflict ;  that, 
according  to  verse  19  of  chapter  second,  man  was 
made  before  the  animals,  contrary  to  the  previous 
statement.  Certainly  the  creation  of  the  animals 
is  mentioned  after  the  mention  of  Adam's  being 
placed  in  the  garden ;  so  also  is  the  making  of  the 
trees  of  the  garden  to  grow  mentioned  not  till  after 
the  man  was  placed  in  it.  But  that  order  of  events 
does  not  follow  in  the  one  case  more  than  in  the 
other. 

One  thing  perhaps  calls  for  a  little  further  notice. 
It  is  strenuously  insisted  that  an  actual  contradic- 
tion of  the  order  of  creation  is  found  (ii.  19)  where 
we  are  told,  in  immediate  succession,  that  God 
formed  and  brought  the  animals  to  the  man,  and 
therefore  the  writer  here  places  the  Creation  of  the 
animals  after  that  of  man,  whereas  in  the  first  chap- 
ter the  process  was  the  opposite  of  this.  What  is 
the  insuperable  difficulty  of  recognizing  here  the 
briefest  possible  reference  to  the  previous  creation 
of  these  animals,  with  the  addition  that  these  animals 
are  now  brought  by  their  Creator  to  the  presence 
and  attention  of  the  man  for  the  purpose  immedi- 
ately specified?  This  is  the  rendering  made  and 
defended  by  Strack  (1894):  "Therefore  Jehovah 
God  brought  all  beasts  of  the  field  and  all  fowls  of 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CONDITION  203 

heaven  which  he  had  formed  out  of  the  ground  to 
the  man,"  etc/ 

The  question  of  the  location  of  the  first  pair  has 
its  difficuhies,  due  apparently  rather  to  our  ignor- 
ance than  to  any  uncertainty  in  the  original  descrip- 
tion. The  writer  defines  it  boldly,  and  by  careful 
specifications  of  locality,  boundary  and,  in  one  in- 
stance, production.  It  carries  every  appearance  of 
an  undoubted,  undoubting  historic  statement.  But 
in  its  remoteness  and  our  historic  ignorance  it  is 
partly  beyond  the  limit  of  our  recognition.  In  re- 
cent times  we  have  gained  more  knowledge,  and 
some  of  our  difficulties  have  been  removed.  Cer- 
tain negative  and  some  positive  results  have  been 
reached.  An  important  achievement  was  accom- 
plished when  Friedrich  Delitzsch  demolished  what 
he  calls  "Paradise  in  Utopia,"^  that  is,  the  lawless 
theories  which  freely  made  the  most  impossible 
combinations,  as  of  the  Nile  with  the  Tigris  and 
the  Ganges;  which,  among  them,  proposed  as  many 
as  seventeen  different  streams  for  the  Pison,  and 
thirteen  for  the  Gihon ;  and  which  located  Eden  at 
various  points  from  the  Canary  Isles  to  China  or 
the  Baltic  Sea.  A  chief  occasion  of  this  confusion 
was  the  mistaken  belief  that  the   land  of   Cush,  so 

I  Dr.  Driver  summarily  declares,  "The  rendering  'had  formed'  is  con- 
trary to  idiom."  But  Delitzsch  in  his  latest  edition  reverses  his  own  former 
opinion,  and  affirms  that  this  mode  of  expression  is  not  only  conformed  to 
Hebrew  style,  but  necessitated  by  the  purpose  and  method  of  this  narrative. 
He  cites  Hitzig  (Jeremiah,  p.  288,  2nd  ed.)  in  support  of  such  a  construction. 
Dr.  Green  takes  the  same  ground  (Unity  of  Genesis,  p.  7).  Dillmann  in  his 
latest  edition  (1892)  concedes  the  mode  of  construction  to  be  admissible,  but 
objects  to  it  here  on  the  ground  that  the  previous  statement,  "I  will  make  an 
helpmeet,"  forces  us  to  understand  also  that  the  animals  are  now  to  be 
made;  which  does  not  follow.     See  Appendix,  note  six. 

%  Wo  lag  das  Paradies  (1881). 


204  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

rendered  properly  in  our  Revised  Version,  was 
only  the  land  of  Ethiopia,  as  rendered  in  the  Eng- 
lish Version  of  James.  The  removal  of  this  long- 
continued  ignorance  has  brought  the  problem  to  a 
proximate  solution,  and  removed  the  last  excuse  (if 
ever  there  was  one)  for  bringing  the  Nile  and 
Ethiopia  into  this  connection.  Gesenius,  who  had 
opposed  the  acceptance  of  an  Asiatic  Cush  in  the 
earlier  part  of  his  great  work,  the  Thesaurus, 
changed  his  opinion  before  its  completion  and  recog- 
nized a  Cush  in  Arabia.  Robinson  extended  the  view 
and  assigned  to  the  Cushites  the  "immense  region 
stretching  from  Assyria  in  the  northeast,  through 
eastern  Arabia  into  Africa."  Fuerst  admits  the 
same  wide  extent,  as  far  as  to  the  land  east  of 
Babylonia.  Rawlinson  pointed  out  a  remarkable 
connection  between  the  Cushites  of  Ethiopia  and 
the  early  inhabitants  of  Babylonia.  Lenormant, 
Maspero  and  Brugsch  take  a  similar  position ;  and 
in  1895  Professor  Hommel  sustains  the  decision  of 
Glaser  as  "the  only  correct  view,"  that  in  the  ear- 
liest time  the  Kassites  (as  he  designates  them) 
dwelt  in  Elam,  whence  they  invaded  Babylonia 
about  1700  B.  C.^  Indeed,  it  is  a  singular  phenom- 
enon that  any  one  should  ever  have  attributed  to  a 
Hebrew  writer  or  compiler  at  any  stage  of  history 
such  ignorance  as  to  assign  to  the  Nile,  which  flows 
from  the  south  to  the  north,  an  origin  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris. 

3  The  references  are  to  the  Thesaurus  in  the  articles  on  Cush  and  Raamah, 
Robinson's  translations  of  Gesenius'  Lexicon,  Fuerst's  Lexicon,  Rawlin- 
son's  Herodotus,  i,,  p.  353;  Lenormant's  Chaldean  Magic,  pp.  347-357;  Mas- 
pero, Histoire  Ancienne,  p.  147;  Brugsch's  Steininschrift  und  Bibelwort, 
p.  58;    Hommel  in  Recent  Research,  p.  154. 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CONDITION  205 

Notwithstanding  the  present  difficuhy  of  settling 
some  of  the  details  of  the  description,  others  of 
them  are  clear.  And  among  the  indications  of  the 
historic  character  of  the  description  and  its  former 
intelligibleness  are  these  :  the  general  locality,  ''east- 
ward," naturally  from  the  place  where  the  narra- 
tive took  its  final  form ;  the  designation  of  two 
rivers  about  which  there  is  no  question,  the  Eu- 
phrates and  Tigris ;  the  mention  of  the  perfectly 
well-known  one  of  these  rivers  without  explanation, 
and  of  the  others  with  descriptions ;  the  minuteness 
of  the  description,  especially  in  the  case  of  the 
Pison,  including  not  only  the  land  it  compassed, 
but  the  products  of  the  land  and  the  particular  fact 
that  its  gold  was  "good";  the  designation  of  a  re- 
gion, somewhere  about  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  a 
region  not  only  generally  adapted  to  human  resi- 
dence, but  in  conformity  to  the  now  prevalent  belief 
that  in  western  Asia  was  the  cradle  of  the  human 
race,  as  has  been  set  forth  in  a  previous  chapter. 
There  is  thus  positive  reason  for  recognizing  its 
historic  character,  and  no  valid  reason  for  doubt- 
ing it. 

When  we  descend  to  the  details,  some  things  are 
certain,  and  some  are,  and  possibly  must  remain, 
unsettled.  There  is  no  dissent  as  to  the  two  great 
rivers ;  and  it  is  known  that  one  main  branch  of  the 
Tigris  rises  within  about  two  miles  of  the  Eu- 
phrates.* The  latter  is  i,6oo  miles  long,  and  the 
former  about  i,  146  miles  before  its  junction  with  the 

4  Delitzsch,  Genesis  (New  Com.),  i.,  p.  i33< 


206  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Euphrates.  As  to  the  Pison  and  Gihon  a  consider- 
able diversity  of  opinions  still  prevails,  each  view 
being  open  to  objections  not  easily  overcome. 
Waiving,  therefore,  any  argument  for  or  against  any 
one  of  them,  w^e  fix  upon  the  settled  facts,  the  two 
unquestioned  rivers. 

In  conformity  with  this  assignment  of  locality, 
divested  of  all  doubtful  details,  is  the  fact  as  stated 
by  Wright  and  Pinches,^  that  the  more  reasonable 
theories  as  to  the  position  of  paradise  may  be 
roughly  divided  into  two  classes :  namely,  ''those 
which  place  the  garden  of  Eden  below  the  junction 
of  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates,  and  seek  the  Pi- 
son  and  Gihon  among  the  many  natural  or  artifi- 
cial tributaries  of  those  streams ;  and  those  which 
locate  the  site  in  the  high  tablelands  of  Armenia, 
where  so  many  noble  streams  have  their  origin." 
It  was  somewhere  along  the  line  of  the  Euphrates, 
higher  or  lower.  Either  of  these  regions  would 
well  satisfy  the  conditions.  The  southern  portion 
of  it  is  the  congenial  soil  for  the  cereals,  and  has 
been  the  seat  of  population  and  power  from  the  re- 
motest antiquity.  The  tablelands  of  Armenia  give 
rise  to  four  noble  rivers,^  all  springing  from  sources 
not  far  from  each  other,  and  discharging  into  three 
different  seas ;  and  the  country  is  described  by  the 
British  engineer.  Colonel  Chesney,  as  adapted  to 
the  growth  of  "every  tree  that  is  pleasant  and 
good  for  food,"  interspersed  with  beautiful  valleys 

5  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  2nd  Ed.,  i.,  p.  846. 

6  Besides  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  the  Araxes,  1,000  miles  long,  and  the 
Halys  or  Kizil  Irmak,  700  miles  long.    See  note  xx.  in  the  Appendix. 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CONDITION  20? 

and  fertile  plains,  and  overspread  with  "groves, 
orchards,  vineyards,  gardens  and  villages.'"  In 
either  region  the  fig  of  the  sacred  narrative  would 
grow.  Here,  then,  the  account  is  beyond  impeach- 
ment. It  is  perhaps  not  wise  to  lay  any  stress 
upon  certain  traditions — one  cherished  in  the  valleys 
of  central  Armenia  that  Eden  extended  from  the 
pashalik  of  Mosul  to  a  point  near  Erzeroom  and 
from  Tocat  to  beyond  Lake  Van,^  and  one  in  Har- 
poot  that  paradise  was  in  the  neighboring  plain;'' 
nor  on  the  name  "Paradise  Mountain"  that  lingers 
on  a  lofty  peak  of  the  Caucasus  above  the  sources 
of  the  Rion  or  Phasis.^'^  They  are  not  necessary. 
Nor  is  it  needful  to  dwell  on  the  statement  of  Sayce 
that  "the  land  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Euphrates 
(in  southern  Babylonia)  went  under  the  general 
name  of  '-^  Edinna,''^  the  Eden  of  Scripture — the 
sacred  grove  and  garden  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Eridu,  at  the  junction  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates, 
being  the  garden  of  Genesis ;"  or  that  of  Friedrich 
Delitzsch,  that  the  name  Eden  came  from  the  Acca- 
dian  '-'' edinu,'^'^  which,  as  he  claims,  was  applied  to  a 
part  of  Babylonia,  the  word  meaning  "field,  land, 
desert,"  and  applied  to  this  region  as  the  land  pre- 
eminently.^^ It  is  sufficient  that  the  general  and 
growing  consensus  of  scholars  who  do  not  hold  to 
the  Utopian  theory,  locates  the  site  of  the  garden 

7  Chesney's  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  i.,  p.  270. 

8  Chesney,  i.,  p.  267. 

9  H.  N.  Wheeler,  Letters  from  Eden,  pp.  15,  16. 

10  Freshfield,  Central  Caucasus,  p.  277. 

11  Sayce's  Ancient  Empires  of  the  East,  p.  95. 
13  Wo  lag  das  Paradies,  pp.  79,  80.    See  note  xx. 


208  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

somewhere  along  the  region  of  the  Euphrates, 
higher  or  lower ;  that  the  conditions  of  the  region 
are  entirely  consistent  with  the  supposition ;  and 
the  various  indications  of  the  dispersion  of  the  hu- 
man race,  as  already  mentioned,  point  to  western 
Asia  as  their  original  home.  All  these  things  go 
to  support  the  historical  character  of  the  narrative 
as  a  whole,  whatever  details  are  still  beyond  our 
means  of  investigation. 

Man's  primitive  condition  is  described  in  a  mode 
which  bears  the  closest  scrutiny,  even  in  circum- 
stances to  which  objections  have  sometimes  been 
made,  (i)  He  has  employment;  he  could  not  be 
happy  otherwise.  (2)  His  employment  is  of  the 
simplest  kind,  belonging  to  the  most  primitive  state 
of  things,  to  "dress  the  garden  and  to  keep  it." 
(3)  He  has  intelligence  and  the  capacity  of  speech, 
used  first  in  the  most  natural  way  of  recognizing 
and  naming  the  animals  that  present  themselves  to 
his  notice.  (4)  He  is  a  social  being,  and  longs  for 
companionship.  (5)  He  is  from  the  first  under 
moral  relations — privilege  and  prohibition,  each  of 
the  simplest  kind :  a  sacramental  tree,  so  to  call  it, 
and  a  test  tree.  (6)  The  test  to  which  he  was  sub- 
jected was  precisely  conformed  to  his  condition. 
Some  such  test  was  the  only  natural  one,  we  may 
say  the  only  practicable  one.  The  objection  some- 
times raised  or  felt,  to  making  obedience,  or  dis- 
obedience with  penalty,  hinge  upon  keeping  from 
the  fruit  of  a  tree,  singularly  misapprehends  the 
state  of  the  case.     The  nature  of  the  prohibition  is 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CONDITION  209 

the  best  guaranty  of  the  truth  of  the  narrative.  It 
was  not  only  in  keeping  with  that  first  mode  of  life, 
but  it  was  of  almost  the  only  kind  which  the  situa- 
tion admitted. 

The  great  crimes  of  the  modern  statute  book, 
such  as  theft,  robbery,  arson,  adultery,  and  the 
like,  were  impossible ;  murder  and  violence  at  first 
inconceivable.  Even  if  it  had  been  the  object  to 
make  the  trial  of  him  in  his  relations  to  man  rather 
than  to  God,  those  relations  were  mainly  still  want- 
ing. It  only  remained  to  select  a  test  from  the  act- 
ual life  and  environment.  The  spirit  of  obedience, 
of  obedience  to  his  Maker,  could  be  as  well  deter- 
mined by  the  one  selected  as  by  any  other.  Thus, 
when  carefully  considered,  the  complete  conform- 
ity of  the  narrative  to  the  condition  and  surround- 
ings of  the  man  is  the  best  evidence  available  of 
its  fundamental  truth,  while  the  whole  series  of 
facts,  even  to  the  matter  of  clothing,  is  stated  with 
a  verisimilitude  apprehensible  to  all  mankind. 
Surely  there  is  no  need  nor  justification  of  finding 
a  myth  in  such  a  naive  and  consistent  history. 

The  account  of  woman's  creation  and  union  to 
the  man  is,  of  course,  attended  with  difficulties  in 
detail,  owing  to  the  reticence  of  the  narrative,  and 
the  utter  absence  of  all  other  sources  of  knowledge. 
It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  no  possible  ex- 
planation of  the  relationship  can  be  clear  of  difficul- 
ties ;  the  tracing  of  origins  is  a  plunge  into  mystery, 
after  all  is  said.  The  fact  of  sex,  not  only  in  the 
human  species,  but  throughout  animated  life,  and 


210  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

its  unfailing  adjustment  from  the  beginning,  is  a 
fact  before  which,  when  fairly  considered,  the  most 
enthusiastic  evolutionist  has  nothing  satisfactory  to 
offer.  So  infinite  are  the  probabilities  against  a 
single  individual  appearing  in  exactly  the  right 
time  and  with  the  right  constitution  to  be  in  per- 
fect correlation  to  another  individual  for  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  species,  and  so  inconceivably  infi- 
nite against  this  occurrence  taking  place  through 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  species  and  countless 
millions  of  individuals,  and  in  such  wise  as  to  in- 
sure its  never-failing  continuance,  that  one  need 
hardly  hesitate  to  pronounce  the  statement  of  the 
direct  creation  of  the  first  woman  to  be  the  most 
simple  and  the  most  probable  explanation.  Noth- 
ing certain  can  be  alleged  against  it,  and  nothing 
certain,  if  anything  probable,  can  be  advanced  in- 
stead of  it. 

Furthermore,  the  scriptural  statement  of  the  re- 
lation thus  established  is,  as  we  shall  presently  see, 
absolutely  faultless  in  its  lofty  ideal,  above  all  criti- 
cism. The  difficulty  is  in  regard  to  the  process, 
and  consists  mainly  in  its  obscurity ;  obscurity  in  a 
matter  which,  very  possibly,  must  in  an}'  case  have 
remained  obscure,  like  other  ultimate  facts  of  nat- 
ural science.  Whatever  the  exact  nature  of  the 
process,  the  significance  of  it  is  clear,  and  has  been 
clear  to  the  whole  world  in  all  ages.  We  will  not, 
therefore,  minutely  discuss  the  several  theories  of 
the  process,  except  to  say  that  the  word  translated 
"rib"  is  indeterminate.    It  is  so  translated  nowhere 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CONDITION  211 

else  in  the  Old  Testament,  but  in  its  frequent  use 
has  the  generic  meaning  "side" — the  side  of  vari- 
ous objects.^'  While  some  have  supposed  it  to  be 
actually  a  rib,  others  have  conjectured  some  un- 
know^n  part  of  the  body,  or  some  part  made  for  the 
purpose,  and  even  (as  Maimonides  and  the  Talmud) 
one  half  of  an  androgynous  being.  In  each  case, 
it  is  life  from  previous  life,  and  so  far  reasonable. 

It  may  be  added  that  another  view  of  the  trans- 
action is  suggested  by  the  narrative  itself,  which 
gives  it  the  same  significance,  namely,  that  it  was 
a  symbolical  transaction  in  a  vision.  We  read  that 
Adam  was  first  cast  into  a  "deep  sleep";  the  same 
word  being  used  as  concerning  Abram's  state  when 
he  had  the  vision  of  the  smoking  furnace,  and  the 
word  used  in  Job  iv.  13,  where  it  speaks  of  "visions 
of  the  night  when  deep  sleep  falleth  upon  man." 
The  account  would  thus  seem  to  permit,  if  not  dis- 
tinctly to  suggest,  that  here  may  be  a  vision  in  this 
state  of  deep  sleep,  as  in  the  case  of  Abram,  de- 
scribed as  it  presented  itself,  phenomenally,  in  the 
one  case  as  in  the  other.  For  those  who  may  pre- 
fer, this  mode  of  conception  is  apparently  admissi- 
ble. 

But  whether  this  transaction  was  an  inner  or  an 
outer  vision,  the  meaning  is  the  same — equally  dis- 
tinct, remarkable  and  noble,  the  highest  possible 
conception  of  the  relation  of  husband   and  wife. 

13  The  side  of  a  mountain,  of  the  tabernacle,  the  ark,  an  altar,  of  a  double 
door,  of  the  heavens,  a  side  chamber.  In  i  Kings  vi.  15,  16;  vii.  3  it  means 
beams  or  joists  of  a  building  here  only  approximating  to  the  signification 
"rib." 


212  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Taken  in  connection  with  Adam's  own  exclamation, 
"This  is  bone  of  my  bone  and  flesh  of  my  flesh," 
here  is  a  declaration  not  only  of  similarity,  but  of 
identity  of  origin,  nature  and  interest,  of  sympathy 
and  of  intimacy  as  in  no  other  human  relation. 
Even  the  beautiful  and  striking  description  of  the 
relation  in  Ephesians  v.  21-31  is  but  its  paraphrase. 
The  narrative,  then,  presents  an  ideal  of  marriage 
not  only  far  above  the  prevailing  Jewish  standard 
in  Christ's  time,  but  above  the  practice  of  their 
venerated  ancestors,  and  higher  than  the  require- 
ments of  their  great  law-giver.  As  such  it  speaks 
for  itself,  for  the  fundamental  truth  of  the  narra- 
tive, and,  we  may  add,  for  its  superhuman  origin. 

Add  to  this  the  announcement  (in  ii.  24)  of  the 
great  and  perpetual  law  of  marriage  which  the 
Savior  Himself  only  reaffirmed ;  and  we  behold  an 
extraordinary  phenomenon :  this  second  chapter  of 
the  Pentateuch  establishes  the  two  great  institutions 
which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  family  life  and 
the  religious  life  of  the  world,  namely,  the  Sab- 
bath, and  marriage  in  its  highest  ideal.  In  the 
presence  of  these  two  fundamental  facts  there  is  no 
occasion  to  make  apologies  for  this  narrative,  nor 
to  talk  of  myths. 

It  should  also  be  said  that  the  supposition  of  a 
late  origin  of  this  account  supposes  two  insuppos- 
able  things :  first,  that  some  late  Jewish  writer  or 
writers  invented  an  early  legislation  which  con- 
demned the  practice  of  their  two  most  boasted  an- 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CONDITION  213 

cestors ;  second,  that  there  was  some  Jew  in  the  days 
of  comparative  disorder  in  the  eighth  or  ninth  cen- 
tury B.  C,  or  indeed  in  any  later  time  before  the 
coming  of  Christ,  capable  of  rising  to  such  a  height. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  TEMPTATION   AND  FALL. 

This  part  of  the  early  narrative  confessedly  pre- 
sents many  difficulties.  They  are  reduced  by  re- 
membering that  the  style  is  popular,  and  that  here, 
as  in  the  first  chapter  (presently  to  be  considered), 
the  description  is  phenomenal,  representing  things 
as  they  appeared,  and  in  the  language  of  common 
and  oriental  life. 

The  cardinal  points  of  the  narrative  are  these : 
An  original  state  of  innocence ;  a  subsequent  state 
of  sin  and  sorrow,  brought  about  by  disobedience 
to  the  law  of  God. 

The  first  of  these  is  so  far  beyond  the  reach  of 
all  other  historical  records  that  it  comes  down  only 
vn  the  unwritten  history,  the  tradition  of  the  na- 
tions— the  recognition  of  a  "golden  age"  when  the 
gods  held  converse  with  men,  and  there  was  neither 
sin  nor  care  nor  painful  labor  and  sorrow.  The 
proof  of  this  tradition  is  abundant.  The  cautious 
Dillmann  describes  it  as  a  belief  spread  through  all 
antiquity,  and  he  instances  in  detail  the  classic  na- 
tions, India,  Persia  and  Egypt,  in  which  last  coun- 
try, as  is  well  known,  it  took  the  form  of  a  pro- 
tracted reign  of  the  gods.  Zoeckler  makes  a  more 
extensive  enumeration,  and  finds  the  tradition  (com- 
bined with  other  traits  of  the   Biblical   narrative) 

214 


THE  TEMPTATION  AND  FALL  215 

among  the  Chinese,  Mongolians  and  Japanese,  Kar- 
ens, early  inhabitants  of  India,  ancient  Eranians, 
Egyptians,  Phenicians,  Malayo-Polynesians,  Baby- 
lonians, Etruscans,  Germans  and  Greeks.  He  states 
his  conclusion  thus:  "A  golden  age,  followed  by 
a  gradual  descent  to  the  want  and  wretchedness  of 
the  present  state,  a  Paradise  sun  with  long  waning 
light,  is  in  fact  a  common  possession  of  all  the  older 
peoples."^  The  reader  of  the  classics  need  not  be 
reminded  of  the  representations  found  in  Hesiod 
and  Ovid.  And  in  the  trivial  and,  in  part,  foolish 
details  of  the  latter  author,  though  written  in  the 
Augustan  age,  he  will  perceive  the  marvelous  con- 
trast to  the  dignity  of  the  Hebrew  book  that  even 
then  could  have  been  found  in  Rome  beyond  the 
Tiber. 

No  fair-minded  person  can  fail  to  recognize  the 
immense  weight  of  this  consensus  of  antiquity,  this 
concurrent  reminiscence  descending  as  a  common 
heir-loom  of  the  oldest  nations  of  the  world.  It  is 
inexplicable  except  as  testimonies  admitting  no 
collusion.  Many  persons,  no  doubt,  would  be 
more  impressed  by  a  parallel  narrative,  were  such 
a  one  found  at  Niffur,  as  old  as  the  time  of  Sargon 
I.,  but  it  would  not  carry  a  tithe  of  the  weight. 

This  portion  of  the  sacred  history  and  of  general 
unrecorded  history,  of  course,  will  naturally  find 
denial  from  those  who  hold  to  the  rise  of  the  human 
race  from  a  lower,  indeed  the  lowest,  order  of  be- 
ing.    Their  denial  will  deserve  a  more  careful  con- 

I  Zoeckler,  Urstand  des  Menschen,  pp.  84-112. 


218  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

sideration  when  several  things  shall  have  been 
proved  that  are  now  unproved ;  as,  for  example, 
that  living  substance  has  come  from  non-living  sub- 
stance, that  sentient  life  has  come  from  non-sentient, 
that  man  has  actually  come  from  any  non-human 
being.  Till  then  the  consentient  testimonies  of  an- 
tiquity must  hold  good  against  speculations,  or  the 
speculations  must  somehow  find  room  for  the  testi- 
monies. 

The  second  point,  that  the  human  race  through 
all  recorded  history  has  been  in  a  state  of  sin  and 
of  suffering,  needs  no  argument.  But  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  not  only  is  sin  universal,  but  it  shows 
itself  contemporaneously  with  responsible  action. 
Whatever  benign  influences  may  be  combined  in 
the  environments,  and  whatever  may  be  said  by 
fanciful  writers  of  the  perfect  innocence  of  infancy, 
we  can  look  upon  any  child  in  the  cradle  and  con- 
fidently predict  that  when  conscious  moral  agency 
begins,  it  will  be  accompanied  by  wrong-doing  in 
some  form ;  and  the  prediction  will  never  be  found 
false.  The  fallen  man  "begat  a  son  in  his  own 
likeness  after  his  own  image." 

The  third  fundamental  point,  that  the  evil  condi- 
tion of  the  human  race  has  its  origin  in  disobedi- 
ence to  the  law  of  God  and  of  righteousness,  is 
equally  unquestionable.  It  is  a  truism  that  man  is 
his  own  worst  enemy,  and  his  next  worst  enemy  is 
his  fellowman.  What  are  all  the  follies,  vices  and 
crimes  that  destroy  the  welfare  of  the  individual, 
the  family,  society,  the  nation  and  the  world,  but 


THE  TEMPTATION  AND  FALL  217 

the   various  outbursts  of  disobedience  to  the  great 
law  of  righteousness  and  God? 

On  these  three  fundamental  matters,  the  record 
appears  to  be  historic  and  irrefutable.  When  we 
come  to  the  transition  from  innocence  and  well-be- 
ing to  sin  and  woe,  the  chief  difficulty  presents 
itself ;  but  then,  be  it  observed,  not  in  the  process 
described  so  much  as  in  the  form.  As  to  the  inner 
process  and  progress  of  the  temptation,  the  record 
is  singularly  true  to  human  experience  and  obser- 
vation. Nothing  could  be  better.  First  is  sug- 
gested a  sense  of  the  hardship  of  the  restraint  and 
the  exaggeration  of  the  case:  "Yea,  hath  God 
said,  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  any  tree'  of  the  garden?" 
Then,  when  parleying  with  temptation  begins, 
next  comes  a  lowering  of  motive  to  the  danger  in- 
curred, and  the  danger  discounted:  "A?5/yedie." 
Then  follows  a  disbelief  of  the  evil  consequences : 
"Ye  shall  not  surely  die."  On  the  contrary,  some 
great  gain:  "Your  eyes  shall  be  opened,  and  ye 
shall  be  as  God,  knowing  good  and  evil" — where 
the  mingling  of  specious  truth  and  fatal  falsehood 
reminds  us  of  the  echo  in  our  great  poet : 

"Juggling  fiends,  no  more  to  be  believed, 
That  palter  with  us  in  a  double  sense  ; 
That  keep  the  word  of  promise  to  our  ear, 
And  break  it  to  our  hope." 

The  persistent  brooding  over  the  attractiveness 
of  the  forbidden  object  continues — "when  the 
woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and 
that  it  was  a  delight  to  the  eyes,  and  that  the  tree 

2  So  the  Revised  Version,  in  accordance  with  the  Hebrew  usage  ai^d  tfe^ 
best  expositors. 


218  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

was  to  be  desired  to  make  one  wise" — till  the  end 
came  as  always  after  such  a  dallying.  How  true 
to  fact !  Also  true  in  that  the  temptation  to  an  inno- 
cent being  comes  from  without,  and  first  to  the 
more  emotional  nature. 

The  consequences  ascribed  to  this  temptation  and 
fall  are  found  to  be  equally  in  harmony  with  fact. 
These  cannot  well  be  considered  without  a  few  pre- 
vious words  as  to  the  method  of  the  temptation ;  in 
which,  let  it  be  observed,  is  found  the  only  difficulty 
and  ground  of  questioning.  If  this  were  regarded 
as  a  parable  or  a  figure,  as  some  would  have  it,  or 
a  dramatic  representation,  it  would  still  leave  un- 
impaired the  truthfulness  of  the  facts  so  conveyed.^ 
But  it  seems  not  necessary  and  apparently  not  ad- 
missible so  to  regard  it. 

In  discussing  the  method,  several  writers  (Ebrard, 
Dillmann,  Strack)  have  called  attention  to  the  con- 
sistency of  the  narrative  in  referring  the  seduction 
to  an  outer  source,  since  it  could  not  well  originate 
in  an  innocent  being,  nor  then  have  come  from  other 
human  beings.  So  those  who  hold  to  the  absolute 
innocence  of  infancy  endeavor  to  explain  sin  by 
"environment."  Who  then  was  the  real  tempter? 
According  to  the  New  Testament  it  was  "that  old 
serpent  called  the  devil  and  Satan"  (Rev.  xii.  9; 
XX.  2),  who,  as  the  Savior  said,  "was  a  murderer 
from  the  beginning"  and  "a  liar"  (John  viii.  44), 
who  has  "the  power  of  death"  (Heb.  ii.  13),  so  that 

3  Perhaps  no  one  has  more  strongly  emphasized  the  truthfulness  to  nature 
and  the  essentially  philosophical  character  of  the  whole  narrative  than  Dill- 
mann in  his  commentary,  p.  189.  Ebrard  makes  a  similar  showing;  Apolo- 
getics, i.,  pp.  3II-3I3. 


THE  TEMPT  A  TION  AND  FALL  219 

"the  Son  of  God  was  manifested  that  He  might  de- 
stroy the  works  of  the  devil"  (John  iii.  8),  with  the 
assurance  that  "the  God  of  peace  shall  bruise  Satan 
under  your  feet  shortly"  (Rev.  xvi.  8).  The  same 
connection  of  the  serpent  with  Satan  is  implied  by 
the  Savior  in  Luke  x.  17-19,  and  more  distinctly 
when  He  termed  His  wicked  opponents  children  of 
the  devil  (John  viii.  38,  44;  Mark  xiii.  38).  The 
antagonism  predicted  in  Gen.  iii.  15  is  broadly 
stated  by  Christ  as  the  conflict  between  the  king- 
dom of  Satan  and  the  kingdom  of  God  (Luke  xi. 
i7-2o),and  was  exemplified  in  the  temptation  which 
Satan  was  permitted  to  offer  to  the  Son  of  God,  the 
second  Adam.  If  we  accept  the  authority  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  even  of  Christ,  it  would  seem 
that  we  must  accept  this  explanation.  Many  in 
these  days  incline  to  doubt  or  deny  the  existence  of 
such  a  being.  But  they  cannot  well  deny  that 
Christ  distinctly  taught  it,  not  merely  as  an  exoteric 
doctrine,  or  an  unmeaning  concession  to  a  popular 
notion,  but  in  his  personal  and  private  instruction 
to  His  chosen  disciples.*  And  it  is  very  noteworthy 
that  even  Mr.  Huxley,  in  his  contemptuous  arraign- 
ment of  what  he  calls  the  story  of  the  Gadarene 
swine,  is  obliged  to  confess  that  he  has  "no  a  priori 
objection  to  offer.  ...  I  declare  as  plainly  as 
I  can,  that  I  am  unable  to  show  cause  why  these 
transferable  devils  should  not  exist.  "^  Certainly  an 
active  agency  is  quite    as  comprehensible   as  an 

4  Matt.  X.  8;  xvi.  19,  20;  Mark  ix.  28,  29;  I.uke  ix.  i;  x.  17-19.  Christ  dis- 
tinguishes between  casting  out  evil  spirits  and  healing  diseases,  as  Luke  xx. 
I,  etc. 

5  Science  and  Hebrew  Tradition,  p.  226. 


220  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

** environment,"    and    much    more    to   the    point. 

But  granting,  what  cannot  be  denied,  the  philo- 
sophic truthfulness  of  the  underlying  lesson,  we 
may  be  expected  to  meet  the  question,  Was  there, 
as  the  instrument,  an  actual  serpent  or  form  of  a 
serpent?  This  appears  to  be  involved  in  verses  i 
and  14  of  the  narrative,  and  to  be  the  understand- 
ing in  2  Cor.  xi.  3.  That  the  writer  of  the  narra- 
tive knew  the  actual  agent  that  was  behind  this  ap- 
pearance does  not  appear.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  he 
describes  the  phenomenon ;  in  the  words  of  Delitzsch, 
he  "confines  himself  to  the  external  appearance  of 
what  took  place,  without  lifting  the  veil  from  the 
reality  behind.it." 

Now,  whatever  difficulties  may  attend  this  por- 
tion of  the  narrative,  it  finds  a  remarkable  confirma- 
tion in  early  traditions.  Says  Kalisch  in  his  com- 
mentary, "Almost  throughout  the  East  the  serpent 
was  used  as  an  emblem  of  the  evil  principle,  the 
spirit  of  disobedience  and  contumacy.  A  few  excep- 
tions only  can  be  discovered."  Probably  a  larger 
margin  should  be  allowed  for  exceptions  ;  the  state- 
ment is  substantially  correct.  Sometimes  the  ser- 
pent was  worshiped  as  an  object  of  fear.  Lenor- 
mant,  who  makes  all  necessary  exceptions,  asserts, 
and  with  illustrative  instances,  that  "we  find  in  all 
mythologies  a  gigantic  serpent  personifying  the 
nocturnal  power,  the  evil  principle,  material  dark- 
ness and  moral  wickedness."  And  as  the  result  of 
several  pages  of  examples  he  concludes  by  saying 
that  "the  great  serpent,  among  all  the  highly  civil- 


THE  TEMPTATION  AND  FALL  221 

ized  peoples  whose  traditions  we  have  scrutinized, 
is  symbolical  of  this  dark  and  evil  power  in  its 
broadest  conception.'"  Turning  to  one  of  these 
nations  as  described  by  another  high  authority: 
Brugsch  affirms  that  "through  the  mythical  tradi- 
tions belonging  to  all  periods  of  the  Egyptian  mon- 
umental world  down  to  the  Christian  era,  there  en- 
ters like  a  red  thread  the  representation  of  the 
serpent  as  the  symbol  of  evil ;  ...  the  tree 
of  life  and  in  its  vicinity  the  serpent  are  in  the  old 
Egyptian  representations  inseparable  from  each 
other.'"  Lenormant  follows  this  last  line  of  double 
suggestion  with  several  similar  illustrations,  one  of 
which,  previously  cited  by  George  Smith  in  his 
''Chaldean  Genesis, "is  sufficiently  striking  to  be 
described  in  his  own  words :  "  A  man  and  a  woman, 
the  first  wearing  on  his  head  the  kind  of  turban 
peculiar  to  the  Babylonians,  seated  face  to  face  on 
either  side  of  a  tree  with  horizontal  branches,  from 
which  hang  two  large  branches  of  fruit,  one  in  front 
of  each  of  these  personages,  who  are  in  the  act  of 
stretching  out  their  hands  to  pluck  them.  Behind 
the  woman  a  serpent  uprears  itself.'"  Now,  not- 
withstanding two  or  three  minor  objections,  such 
as  that  it  is  not  certain  that  these  two  persons  are 
man  and  woman  rather  than  two  men,  that  one  is 
not  actually  handing  the  fruit  to  the  other,  and  even 
the  very  peculiar  one  that  the   serpent  "may  have 

6  Lenormant's  Beginnings  of  History,  pp.  103,  114. 

7  Brugsch's    Steininschrift,  pp.   24,  25.      See  also  Wilkinson's    Ancient 
Egyptians,  iii.,  pp.  121,  152,  Birch's    edition. 

8  Lenormant,  pp.  98,  99. 


222  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEVCH 

been  introduced  for  the  purpose  of  ornament,"^  a 
writer  who  gathers  up  these  objections  to  show  that 
the  reference  to  the  temptation  is  doubtful,  is  con- 
strained to  concede  that  "the  picture  at  once  strikes 
the  beholder  as  a  representation  of  the  temptation"; 
while  such  authorities  as  Lenormant  and  Friedrich 
Delitzsch  declare  it  to  be  capable  of  no  other  expla- 
nation/" and  W.  St.  Chad  Boscawen  also  regards  it 
as  an  "indication"  of  the  story  of  the  Fall."  The 
case  is  made  still  stronger  by  other  pictorial  repre- 
sentations, a  very  large  number  showing  the  sacred 
tree  with  various  surroundings  and  a  less  number 
showing  the  serpent-cultus.  George  Smith  gives  a 
cut  from  the  seal  of  a  Syrian  chief  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury B.  C,  representing  the  sacred  tree  with  at- 
tendant figures  and  eagle-headed  men.  To  omit 
other  references,  Ohnefalsch-Richter,  in  his  elabor- 
ate work,  ^Me votes  196  folio  pages  to  the  discussion 
of  the  tree  cultus  and  its  connections,  accompanied 
by  scores  of  cuts  of  the  tree,  from  the  crudest  and 
often  conventional  forms  up  to  an  occasional  deline- 
ation of  branches,  leaves  and  fruit,  and  attended  by 
a  variety  of  figures,  human,  animal  and  imaginary, 
from  the  commonly  crude  drawings  up  to  that  on  a 
Greek  vase  where  two  human  figures  are  some- 
what gracefully  outlined,  and  the  well-drawn  ser- 
pent opens  his  mouth  towards  the  one  that  holds  a 
fruit  in  the   hand,  it  may  be  as  an  offering  (Plate 

9  Prof.  J.  D.  Davis,  Genesis  and  Hebrew  Tradition,  p.  67. 

10  Lenormant,  p.  99.     Fr.  Delitzsch's  Chaldaeische  Genesis,  p.  305. 

11  Boscawen,  The  Bible  and  the  Monuments,  p.  89. 

12  Kypros,  Die  Bibel  und  Homer,  s  vols.  (1893). 

t 


THE  TEMPT  A  TION  AND  FALL  223 

cxxiii.,  Fig.  3).  The  same  writer  has  a  brief  ex- 
cursus^^  on  the  serpent  cuhus  (and  a  promise  of  a 
more  complete  discussion  hereafter),  in  which  he 
refers  to  twenty  cuts  of  this  nature,  exhibited  in  his 
tables,  and  derived  from  Egypt,  Babylonia,  Persia, 
Cyprus,  Crete,  and  elsewhere,  many  of  which  he 
contends  cannot  have  been  otherwise  than  independ- 
ent in  their  origin,  and  some  of  them  of  the  great- 
est antiquity. 

In  view  of  these  concurrent  indications,  it  is  not 
those  who  accept  the  view  of  an  external  transac- 
tion here  recorded  that  are  bound  to  show  cause, 
but  rather  those  who  reject  it.  There  are  questions 
concerning  some  of  its  details  which  cannot  be  an- 
swered. But  whatever  our  decision  as  to  the  form 
of  the  occurrence,  the  truthfulness  of  its  teaching 
cannot  be  denied.  Professor  Ryle,  who  does  not 
express  clearly  his  belief  of  the  personality  of  the 
spirit  of  evil,  yet  in  speaking  of  "the  story  of  the 
fall"  declares  that  "the  Paradise  narrative  brings  a 
message  pregnant  with  evangelic  truth." 

Equally  true  and  remarkable  is  the  delineation  of 
the  consequences  as  immediately  set  forth.  The 
penalty  of  disobedience  was  announced  in  these 
terms:  "In  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou 
shalt  surely  die."  This  death  evidently  was  not 
primarily  physical  death,  for  that  did  not  take  place 
on  that  day  nor  for  long  years  after,  as  the  writer 
proceeds  immediately  to  show.  But  he  does  de- 
scribe a  series  of  consequences  constituting  that 

13  lb.,  pp.  442i  443-     Note  xxi. 


224  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

spiritual  death  so  abundantly  indicated  in  the  Script- 
ures, and  well  described  by  Augustine  when  he  said 
that  death  of  the  body  consists  in  the  separation  of 
the  body  from  the  soul,  but  death  of  the  soul  in  the 
separation  of  the  soul  from  God.  In  the  very  act 
of  transgression  that  separation  took  place.  Its 
several  elements  are  implicitly  presented  in  the  se- 
quel :  first  the  sense  of  guilty  shame,  then  the 
shrinking  and  endeavor  to  hide  from  God's  pres- 
ence, painful  dependence  of  the  woman  on  the  hus- 
band and  suffering  in  the  parental  relation,  and  for 
the  man  anxious  and  disappointing  toil,  all  closed 
and  crowned  by  a  return  to  the  dust  of  the  earth. 

How  soberly  and  terribly  true  is  the  statement  of 
the  changes  wrought  by  the  curse  of  sin,  whereby 
the  labor  that  was  to  have  been  a  pleasure  becomes 
a  burden,  the  woman's  loving  dependence  so  often 
a  galling  chain,  and  the  family  a  scene  of  conjugal 
trouble,  filial  wickedness,  and  parental  sorrow  !  All 
this,  set  forth  not  in  abstract  but  in  concrete  terms, 
is  how  sadly  true  as  the  fruit  of  sin,  alienation 
from  God  !  The  press  of  modern  times  teems  with 
the  proof. 

A  few  words  as  to  the  details  of  the  curse.  They 
are  wholly  concrete  and  illustrative,  rather  than 
technically  inclusive.  The  serpent's  doom  is  read- 
ily understood  when  the  real  agent  is  borne  in  mind, 
according  to  the  New  Testament  interpretation.  It 
is  addressed  to  the  arch  enemy,  and  couched  in 
terms  drawn  from  the  form  he  had  assumed ;  a  ser- 
pent's form  he  had  taken,  and  a  serpent's  fate  shall 


THE  TEMPT  A  TION  AND  FALL  225 

be  his,  a  groveling  and  dirt-eating  career ;  enmity 
between  his  "seed,"  the  "ciiildren  of  the  wicked 
ona"  (Luke  xiii.  38),  the  "offspring  of  vipers" 
(Matt.  iii.  7),  and  the  promised  "seed  of  the  wom- 
an," Christ  and  Christ's — the  children  of  light  and 
of  God.  And  though  a  wound  of  the  heel,  a  dan- 
gerous wound,  was  inflicted  on  the  one  side,  a  bruis- 
ing of  the  head,  a  final  overthrow,  should  fall  on  the 
other — a  conflict  now  hopefully  going  on,  Christ 
having  come  ''that  He  might  destro}^  the  works  of 
the  devil."  This  apprehension  of  the  curse  renders 
it  unnecessary  to  understand  any  change  in  the  ser- 
pent form  itself  from  an  upright  to  a  prone  position, 
a  change  that  would  require  a  reconstruction  of 
every  portion  of  its  body ;  but  it  assumes  the  prone 
position  and  motion  as  the  fitting  symbol  of  the 
curse.  The  sentences  of  the  man  and  of  the  woman 
are  announced,  after  the  common  mode  of  the 
Scriptures  and  of  the  Savior,  by  specimen.  The 
pains  of  parturition  are  but  the  beginning  and  illus- 
tration of  the  sorrows  that  sin  has  brought  upon  the 
wife  and  mother.  The  contention  with  "thorns 
and  thistles"  is  but  a  type  and  foretaste  of  the  pain- 
ful and  often  fruitless  struggles  of  man's  life.  One 
is  tempted  to  attach  a  more  sweeping  range  to  the 
utterance,  "Cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake," 
or  on  thy  account,  when  he  looks  over  the  world 
and  sees  Vv'hat  vast  regions,  once  fertile,  flourishing 
and  populous,  as  in  the  Fayoom,  Babylonia,  As- 
syria, Palestine,  and  other  lands,  have  been  made 
desolate  for  ages  by  human  wickedness,  and  how 


228  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Other  lands,  almost  all  the  lands  of  the  earth,  have 
been  devastated  for  generations  by  human  vice, 
passion  and  violence.  The  billions  that  a  genera- 
tion ago  carried  such  destruction  over  the  soil  of 
the  southern  states  of  this  Union,  were  enough,  if 
spent  in  economic,  literary  and  artistic  improve- 
ments, to  have  converted  the  region  into  a  kind  of 
terrestrial  paradise. 

Thus,  in  all  its  fundamental  features,  this  account 
of  the  temptation  and  fall  and  the  consequences  is 
eminently  rational  and  truthful ;  and  the  only  ques- 
tions at  issue  are  minor  ones  of  mode  and  detail,  in' 
which  also  the  concurrence  of  ancient  and  wide- 
spread tradition  supports  the  more  obvious  interpre- 
tation of  the  narrative. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE    CREATION    NARRATIVE 

Perhaps  no  part  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  has 
suffered  more  from  foes  and  friends  than  the  his- 
tory of  creation.  It  has  been  the  subject  of  hasty 
assault  and  hasty  surrender.  Some  men  of  scien- 
tific attainments — not  grasping  the  character  and 
method  of  this  simple  history — have  charged  it  with 
grave  errors  of  fact ;  and  Christian  writers,  over- 
awed by  this  seeming  authority,  have  timidly  con- 
ceded the  case,  and  it  has  become  too  customary  to 
excuse  the  alleged  "mistakes"  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  not  the  function  of  Genesis  to  teach  science, 
or  that  the  writer  shared  the  erroneous  notions  of 
his  contemporaries.  Others  have  resorted  to  the 
view  that  it  is  legend,  saga,  myth,  parable,  or 
poetry.  One  writer  has  elaborately  defended  it  as 
a  "Psalm  of  Creation" — ignoring  the  palpable  nar- 
rative nature  of  the  statements,  and  the  immense 
difference  between  it  and  such  a  composition  as  the 
one  hundred  and  fourth  psalm,  which  is  an  actual 
psalm  of  creation,  the  one  so  eulogized  by  Von 
Humboldt. 

Now,  we  hold  that  this  is  neither  poetry,  saga 
nor  science,  but  a  popular  and  truthful  narration^ 
and  we  propose  to  show  that  when  fairly  treated, 
that  is,  when  interpreted  by  its  mode  of  narration 

222 


228  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

and  standard  of  style,  it  is  sustained  by  the  state- 
ments of  the  best  modern  scientific  authorities.  It 
is  neither  Huxley's  "pure  fiction,"  nor  the  absurd 
travesty  of  facts  with  which  Professor  Draper  en- 
tertained himself. 

It  is  quite  remarkable  how  much  is  conceded  to 
this  narrative  even  by  those  critics  who  find  diffi- 
culties and  discrepancies  in  it.  Dr.  Driver  terms 
it  a  dignified  and  sublime  representation,  in  marked 
contrast  to  the  other  ancient  cosmogonies.  Among 
its  declarations  on  which  he  lays  great  stress  as  of 
the  utmost  weight  amid  the  crude  and  false  notions 
then  universal,  are  these  :  (i)  That  the  world  was 
called  into  existence,  and  brought  gradually  into  its 
present  state,  at  the  will  of  a  Spiritual  Being,  prior 
to  it,  independent  of  it,  deliberately  planning  each 
stage  of  its  development — a  fact  which  no  scientific 
progress  can  affect  or  disprove ;  (2)  its  object  is  to 
afford  a  true  view  in  conception,  if  not  in  detail,  of 
the  origin  of  the  earth  as  we  know  it,  and  not  in  an 
abstract  and  confused  form  v/hich  may  soon  be  for- 
gotten, but  in  a  series  of  representative  pictti7'es  wYiich. 
may  impress  themselves  on  the  imagination,  teach- 
ing, in  terms  which  all  can  understand,  the  same 
truth  which  is  the  outcome  of  the  wisest  philosophy, 
that  the  world  in  which  we  live  cannot  be  compre- 
hended, cannot  become  an  intelligible  object  of 
knowledge,  except  as  dependent  on  a  supreme 
Mind ;  (3)  the  distinctive  pre-eminence  of  man  as 
endowed  with  that  highest  of  gifts,  selj-conscious 
reason,  with  all  its  implied   intellectual  faculties, 


THE  CREA  TION  NARRA  TIVE  229 

with  will  power,  with  the  ability  to  enter  into  re- 
lations of  sympathy,  affection,  compassion,  and 
love,  with  the  capacity  for  character,  and  with  the 
power  of  knowing  and  loving  God  and  receiving 
the  knowledge  of  God  and  the  purposes  of  His 
grace.  All  this  is  stated  in  his  own  words,  though 
abbreviated  at  great  disadvantage  to  the  impres- 
sion.* In  thus  ascribincr  to  the  narrative  these  su- 
preme  truths,  in  declaring  that  they  are  in  accord 
with  the  wisest  philosophy,  disclosed  in  representa- 
tive pictures  which  all  can  understand  and  which 
impress  themselves  upon  the  memory ;  when  he 
also  adds  in  his  detailed  statement,  that  the  narra- 
tion "groups  the  living  creatures  under  great  sub- 
divisions which  appeal  to  the  eye,"  and  even  in  re- 
gard to  the  word  "day"  says  that  it  is  "reasonable 
on  the  whole  to  concede  its  metaphorical  use  here"  ^ 
— a  concession  at  which  Mr.  Huxley  sneered  in  his 
lectures  in  New  York — Dr.  Driver  actually  an- 
nounces or  implies  all  the  principles  of  interpreta- 
tion which,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  remove  the 
difficulties  which  he  finds  remaining. 

Professor  Ryle,  who,  while  calling  this  a  "match- 
less introduction  to  the  whole  history,"  indulges  in 
similar  objections  to  its  "scientific  accuracy,"  yet 
in  the  strongest  terms  eulogizes  its  representation 
of  three  "fundamental  conceptions,"  namely,  the 
physical  universe,  mankind,  and  the  Godhead. 
The  first,  he  says,  agrees  in  its  highest  conceptions 

I  Driver's  Sermons  on  the  Old  Testament,  pp.  171  seq. 
3  See  note  xxii.,  Appendix. 


280  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

with  the  teaching  of  the  purest  philosophy  of  re- 
ligion ;  in  regard  to  the  second,  every  item  of  the 
description  is  in  harmony  with  the  highest  religious 
conception  of  man  revealed  to  us  in  the  teaching  of 
the  incarnation ;  in  regard  to  the  third,  even  more 
striking  does  this  exaltation  of  conception  appear  in 
the  description  of  the  Godhead.  These  proposi- 
tions, stated  in  his  own  words,  he  expands  in  de- 
tail.^ Professor  Ladd,  who  gives  no  little  attention 
to  the  "lapses  and  errors"  in  it,  prefaces  his  dis- 
cussion with  the  declaration  that  "the  noble  simplic- 
ity of  style,  the  loftiness  and  purity  in  theological 
conception  of  this  masterpiece,  are  acknowledged 
by  all,  both  critics  and  casual  readers."  He  pro- 
ceeds to  specify  "the  more  important  elements  of 
doctrine  designed  to  be  taught,"  which  are  made 
more  impressive  by  his  exposition  in  detail,  briefl}^ 
stated  thus :  (i)  That  the  universe  is  dependent 
for  its  existence  and  present  order  upon  the  will  of 
God ;  (2)  the  divine  qualities  of  power  and  wisdom 
as  evinced  in  preparing  the  world  of  physical  sub- 
stances, of  living  creatures,  and  of  moral  subjects 
made  in  the  divine  image,  are  prominent  in  the 
thought  and  narrative  of  the  author ;  (3)  the  divine 
qualities  in  their  creative  activity  penetrate  every 
detail  of  creation ;  (4)  the  divine  institution  of  the 
Mosaic  Sabbath ;  (5)  man  at  the  head  of  creation, 
and  the  center  of  creation ;  (6)  the  universe  consti- 
tuted by  God  through  successive  acts  of  creation, 
an  orderly   and   progressive   whole.*     Prebendary 

3  Ryle's  Early  Narratives  of  Genesis,  pp.  10-12. 

4  Ladd's  The  Doctrine  of  Sacred  Scriptures,  i.,  pp,  253-259. 


THE  CREA  TION  NARRA  TIVE  281 

Row  goes  SO  far  as  to  say  of  the  statements  of  the 
Biblical  narration  that "  while  in  some  minute  points 
they  are  not  absolutely  consistent  with  scientific 
facts,  yet  the}"  make  a  marvelously  near  approach 
to  them."^ 

Thus  these  writers  affirm  the  singular  truthful- 
ness of  the  narrative  in  the  great  fundamental  points, 
but  here  they  pause  and  turn  to  certain  stereotyped 
objections  or  alleged  minor  inaccuracies.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  show  that  these  "inaccuracies,"  so  con- 
stantly rehearsed  by  rote,  disappear  when  the  nar- 
rative is  fairly  treated,  and  its  actual  method  fully 
recognized.  The  mistake  of  its  critics  and  the  over- 
sight of  many  of  its  defenders  consist  in  failing  to 
take  clear  notice  of  the  method  and  style  of  narra- 
tion. Dr.  Driver  was  on  the  verge  of  discovering  it 
and  thus  disposing  of  his  own  criticism,  when  he 
spoke  of  its  being  given  "  /;/  representative  -pictures'''' 
for  all  men  to  understand  and  to  remember,  its  de- 
scription by  groups  under  the  great  subdivisions 
which  appeal  to  the  eye,  and  the  metaphorical 
use  of  the  word  "day." 

It  becomes  necessary  first  of  all  to  call  attention 
to  the  method  and  style  of  the  narrative,  and,  be- 
cause of  the  persistent  oversight,  to  do  so  somewhat 
in  detail  in  order  to  make  it  clear.  And  let  it  be 
observed  that  we  are  not  advancing  theories  about 
the  narrative,  but  stating  the  facts  of  the  case. 

Now,  every  composition  must  be  judged  and  in- 
terpreted from  its  own  aim,  standpoint  and  method, 

5  Row's  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  461. 


232  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

whether  mathematics,  science,  poetry,  metaph3^sics, 
history  or  biography;  and  history  itself  by  aim, 
recognizable  mode,  and  its  intended  readers.  Dick- 
ens' Child's  History  of  England  and  Hallam's  Con- 
stitutional History  cannot  be  criticised  on  the  same 
specific  grounds. 

This  narrative  was  written  and  fitted  for  all  man- 
kind ;  for  all  lands,  ages,  classes  and  conditions  of 
men.  Its  intent  was  not  primarily  intellectual  edu- 
cation, nor  completeness  of  science,  but  moral  and 
religious  impression  and  the  uses  of  piety,  and  par- 
ticularly as  introductory  to  the  history  of  the  Reve- 
lation of  God  and  the  Redemption  of  man.  These 
two  governing  considerations,  universality  of  adap- 
tation, and  subordinateness  of  purpose,  account  for 
and  necessitate  two  striking  traits,  /acts,  in  the 
method  of  the  narration,  which  have  not  received 
the  attention  they  require,  namely,  its  brevity,  and 
its  purely  popular  quality. 

First,  its  brevity,  absolutely  unparalleled;  the 
history  of  many  millions  of  years,  according  to  the 
scientists,  told  in  thirty  verses ;  the  merest  outline 
sketch.  It  is  like  compressing  the  map  of  a  con- 
tinent into  less  than  a  square  inch.  This  marvelous 
brevity  necessitates  several  things  of  the  utmost 
importance  for  fair  treatment  of  the  account,  several 
of  the  most  important  being  steadily  overlooked : 
(i)  Omission  of  details,  exceptions,  modifications, 
in  its  broad  and  characterizing  outlines ;  (2)  a  dis- 
missal of  facts  once  narrated,  and  a  continuous  for- 
ward movement,  the  narrative  marking  each  new 


THE  CREATION  NARRATIVE  233 

stage  and  then  passing  to  the  next  Vvdthout  revert- 
ing or  alluding  to  the  former — although  they  move 
on  together;  (3)  the  announcement  of  each  new 
movement,  lav^,  order  of  things,  therefore,  in  its 
totality  or  completeness.  This  was  also  the  need- 
ful mode  of  connecting  the  history  with  the 
creation  known  to  the  reader.  The  method,  as 
matter  of  fact,  runs  through  the  whole  narration, 
as,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  the  continents,  vege- 
tation, animal  life,  and  other  things  that  will  be 
mentioned  in  their  place.  It  is  a  perfectly  obvious 
fact,  when  attention  is  called  to  it,  but  the  overlook- 
ing of  it  has  been  the  chief  weak  spot  of  the  attack 
and  the  defense. 

The  universal  adaptation  of  the  history  gives  rise 
necessarily  to  these  traits:  (i)  The  absence  of  all 
technical  terms,  not  alone,  because  the  Hebrews 
had  none  such,  but  because  they  would  have  been 
inadmissible.  Hence  the  visible  universe  [zd 
nav)  is  "the  heaven  and  the  earth*';  the  vegetable 
kingdom  is  "the  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed,  the 
fruit-tree  yielding  fruit" ;  chaos  is  "  without  form  and 
void,"  or  emptiness  and  desolation;  there  is  no 
chemical  action,  but  the  Spirit  of  God  moving,  or 
brooding ;  no  cosmic  gas  or  chemical  elements,  but 
the  deep,  the  waters,  and  so  on.  (2)  Popular  modes 
of  statement  always;  scientific  statements  would 
have  been  stumbling  blocks  down  to  the  present  time. 
Not  even  the  process  is  described,  but  only  the  re- 
sults, and  that  usually  by  visible  marks  of  changes 
the  most   stupendous,  such  as  the  appearance   of 


234  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

light,  and  "the  firmament."  Instead  of  God's  voli- 
tions we  read  that  "God  said."  The  Creator  com- 
munes with  Himself,  "let  us";  "calls"  things  by 
names,  and  sees  that  they  are  "good" — all  in  the 
human,  vivid  and  universally  intelligible  mode.  So 
also  in  speaking  of  the  stages  of  creation,  instead 
of  talking  of  a  geological  epoch  or  era  (if  the  He- 
brew had  had  any  such  word),  or  attempting  to 
state  a  length  of  time,  incomprehensible  at  best,  it 
simply  describes  these  stages  after  the  human  mode 
as  so  many  days'  Vv^ork,  that  is,  of  God's  v%^orking. 
(3)  For  the  same  reason  the  descriptions  are  phe- 
nomenal, of  things  as  they  appeared  or  would  have 
appeared.  It  is  not  necessar}^,  though  perhaps  ad- 
missible, to  suppose  (with  Miller,  Kurtz,  Godet, 
Reusch,  Row)  a  series  of  visions,  or  a  moving  dio- 
rama. But  clearly  the  method,  it  is  important  to 
observe,  is  the  popular  one  of  describing  things  not 
as  they  are  interiorly,  but  phenomenally,  as  they 
appeared.  On  this  point  the  sun  and  moon  are  a 
test  case ;  the  one  a  luminary,  the  other  a  dark  re- 
flecting body,  but  described  alike  as  they  appeared, 
the  one  to  rule  the  day,  the  other  to  rule  the  night. 
The  same  trait  appears  throughout ;  in  the  visible 
"heaven,"  sky  or  welkin,  in  the  separation  of  the 
waters  from  the  waters,  in  the  obvious  forms  of 
vegetation,  in  the  monsters,  literally  "  stretched  out" 
creatures,  the  fowl  flying  on  the  face  of  Jicavcn,  and 
everything  that  crcefcth  on  the  earth  ;  all  phenome- 
nal and  even  optical  descriptions. 

These  traits  of  the  narrative  need  but  to  be  dis- 


THE  CREA  TION  NARRA  TIVE  235 

tinctly  stated  to  be  recognized ;  but  the  failure  to 
recognize  some  of  them  has  caused  the  chief  criti- 
cisms of  the  narrative.  Even  the  use  of  the  word 
"day" is  not  a  defect,  but  an  excellence,  in  a  narra- 
tive written  in  the  simplest  form  for  all  men.  The 
criticisms  have  made  it  necessary  to  point  out  these 
traits  very  distinctly  and  in  detail,  although  they 
are  recognizable  at  a  glance  when  attention  is  di- 
rected to  the  facts.  To  enumerate  them,  however 
rendered   necessary,  is  like  analyzing  a  dandelion. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  unquestionable  aim  and  char- 
acter of  the  narrative,  let  us  proceed  to  test  it  by 
the  latest  results  attained.  It  is  worthy  of  mention, 
meanwhile,  what  Professor  Arnold  Guyot  relates  of 
himself:  "In  the  beginning  of  the  winter  of  1840, 
having  just  finished  writing  a  lecture  which  was  to 
be  part  of  a  course  which  I  was  then  delivering  at 
Neuchatel,  Switzerland,  it  flashed  upon  my  mind 
that  the  outlines  I  had  been  tracing,  guided  by  the 
results  of  scientific  inquiry  then  available,  were 
precisely  those  of  the  grand  history  given  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis.  In  the  same  hour  I  ex- 
plained this  remarkable  coincidence  to  the  intelli- 
gent audience  which  it  was  my  privilege  to  ad- 
dress."^ Forty-three  years  afterwards  he  adhered 
to  the  same  view  of  the  complete  harmony  between 
the  narrative  and  the  results  of  scientific  inquiry, 
and  published  it  to  the  world. 

We  proceed  to  the  narrative  itself.  The  first 
verse  asserts  the  creation  by  God  of  the  visible  uni- 

e  Guyot's  Creation,  Preface, 


236  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

verse,  that  is,  its  absolute  origination.  The  He- 
brew word,  much  like  our  word  "create,"  though 
the  proper  word  for  origination,  might  not  of  itself 
necessarily  carry  that  force.  The  full  meaning  of 
the  word  is  favored  by  the  fact  that  (in  this  Hebrew 
conjugation)  it  is  elsewhere  used  only  concerning 
God's  doings,  and  in  this  chapter  employed  but 
three  times  (vs.  i,  21,  27),  in  regard  to  the  uni- 
verse as  a  whole,  the  introduction  of  animal  life 
and  the  origin  of  man — matter,  life,  spirit — and  is 
made  decisive  by  the  fact  that  all  the  plastic  proc- 
esses subsequently  performed  on  this  material,  are 
so  complete  and  exhaustive  as  to  admit  only  origi- 
nation here.  Science  has  nothing  to  say  against  it, 
while  some  scientists  both  admit  and  insist  upon  it. '^ 
The  alternative  would  be  to  hold  with  Plato  to  the 
eternity  of  matter ;  thus  making  it  so  far  the  equal 
of  God.  This  brief  sentence,  as  has  been  well  said, 
cuts  off  Atheism,  Polytheism,  Pantheism,  Dualism, 
Materialism  and  Fatalism. 

In  verse  second  it  is  important  to  notice  that  the 
narrative  leaves  the  universe  in  general  and  limits 
itself  to  the  earth,  with  an  unknown  interval  of  time 
between.  It  presents  the  earth  in  a  chaotic  con- 
dition, "waste  and  void"  (R.  V.);  a  summary  and 
dignified  statement — how  different  from  the  absurd 
details  of  Ovid!  And  in  the  added  clause,  "and 
darkness  was  on  the  face  of  the  deep,"  the  "deep" 
is  obviously  this  same  chaotic  mass,  and  the  dark- 
ness carries  us  to  a  condition  prior  to  chemical  com- 

7  See  note  xxiii.,  Appendix. 


THE  CREA  TION  NARK  A  TIVE  287 

bination,  inasmuch  as  chemical  action,  when  intense, 
produces  light  and  heat.  When  Professor  Ladd 
objects  that  this  is  incorrect  because  "light  by  its 
very  nature  belongs  to  that  condition  of  the  earth 
mass  with  which  the  hypothesis  of  science  begins," 
he  forgets  that  though  scientists  may  commonly  go 
no  further  back  than  to  speak  of  this  earth  mass  in 
its  incandescent  state,  their  fundamental  principles 
involve  the  recognition  of  elements,  atoms,  mole- 
cules, which  by  their  combination  and  interaction 
produce  that  incandescence.  And  science  has  now 
gone  so  far  in  the  hands  of  Raoul  Pictet  as  to  prove 
that  at  certain  very  low  temperatures  (from -125°  to 
-I75°)the  most  powerful  chemical  agents(even  nitric 
acid)  are  inert.  An  uncombined  and  therefore  dark 
state  is  not  only  assumable,  but  proximately  prov- 
able. Professor  Dana  virtually  says  this  very  thing 
when  he  says  that  the  beginning  of  activity  in  mat- 
ter "would  show  itself  by  a  flash  of  light  through 
the  universe."^  Here,  then,  is  the  fact  of  activity 
begun,  contained  in  the  announcement,  "Let  there 
be  light."  How  simple  and  apprehensible  this 
slight  stroke  of  a  phenomenal  description — a  result 
perceived — which  tells  the  story  of  enormous  and 
unimaginable  combinations !  Any  child  can  appre- 
hend the  statement ;  no  man  can  fully  comprehend 
the  process ;  and  while  Voltaire  might  be  excused 
in  his  day  for  objecting  that  light  could  not  have 
existed  prior  to  the  action  of  the  sun,  it  was  hardly 
excusable  for  a  writer  (C.  W.  Goodwin,  M.  A.)  in 

S  Dana's  Geology,  2nd  edition,  p.  766. 


238  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

the  noted  Oxford  Essays  and  Reviews  to  repeat  an 
objection  which  a  schoolboy  could  then  have  an- 
swered. 

But  this  intense  activity  is  referred  to  its  divine 
cause  in  the  preceding  verse:  "The  Spirit  of  God 
moved, "or  more  strictly  (R.  V.  margin),  was  brood- 
ing^ the  word  which  (Deut.  xxxii.  ii)  describes  the 
action  of  the  eagle  fluttering  over  her  young,  and 
denotes  a  steady  activity  not  necessarily  limited  to 
the  beginning  of  the  work,  but  perhaps  applicable 
throughout.  He  moved  upon  "the  face  of  the 
waters,"  the  term  "the  deep"  being  now  exchanged 
for  "the  waters,  "and  this  last  evidently  but  another 
term  for  the  "waste  and  void"  condition.  Lan- 
guage and  thought  could  hardly  furnish  more  vivid 
phraseology  for  the  vastness  of  this  heaving  mass 
than  "the  deep"  or  ocean,  or  than  "the  waters"  for 
its  unstable  condition.  The  vaporous  mass  is  con- 
jectured by  Sir  W.  Dawson  to  have  had  a  diameter 
two  thousand  times  greater  than  its  present  one,' 
its  brilliancy  becoming  like  that  of  the  sun.  This 
immense  change,  so  simply  told,  fills  the  first  epoch 
or  "day" — a  word  to  be  considered  later.  When 
God  "divided  the  light  from  the  darkness,"  He 
established  a  permanent  condition  or  relation,  very 
simply  stated. 

Next  comes  the  "firmament,"  or,  more  properly, 
expanse^  to  separate  the  waters  "under"  it  from 
those  "above"  it.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the 
narrative  has  now  left  the  universe  and  limited  itself 


g  Dawson's  Story  of  the  Earth  and  Man,  p.  g. 


THE  CREA  TION  NA  RRA  TI VE  23& 

to  the  earth ;  and  therefore  it  seems  inadmissible 
to  find  here  the  resolution  of  a  nebula  into  our  solar 
system/*^  "Firmament"  is  the  critical  word,  mean- 
ing, literally,  exfanse^^^  and  in  verse  8  defined  as 
"heaven,"  that  is,  the  sky  or  w^elkin ;  and  thus  in 
the  most  simple  and  popular  mode  there  is  pre- 
sented the  scene  of  a  sky  with  a  sheet  of  waters 
below  and  dense  water-clouds  above.  This  one 
brief  stroke,  purely  phenomenal,  addressed  to  the 
eye,  tells  the  story  of  other  immense  changes,  in- 
cluding the  cooling  of  the  earth's  surface  to  a  crust 
and  the  reduction  of  its  temperature  till  water  will 
lie  upon  it ;  and  also  such  a  disengagement  of  the 
elements  as  to  form  an  atmosphere,  though  laden 
not  only  with  dense  vapors,  but  with  much  else  that 
has  been  since  absorbed  and  combined.  It  would 
be  the  change  produced  by  ages  of  gradual  radia- 
tion, summed  up  in  a  sentence.  This  signal  change 
marks  the  second  stage  or  day. 

Next,  in  verses  9-12,  are  contained  two  great 
events.  First  comes  the  appearance  of  dry  land, 
by  the  formation  of  continents  and  oceans.  This 
implies  a  time  when  the  surface  of  the  earth  was 
covered  by  waters ;  a  fact  abundantly  asserted  by 
the  geologists. ^'^  The  formation  of  the  continents, 
though  here  summarily  described  at  the  beginning 
of  it,  actually  continued  through  the  several  geo- 

10  As  Guyot  and  Dana  give  it. 

11  So  the  margin  of  R.  v.;  "expansion"  in  margin  of  A.  V.  The  Hebrew 
verb  from  which  the  noun  comes  usually  means  to  expand,  not  to  make  solid 
as  i\xe  firm  amentum  of  the  Vulgate. 

12  Dana,  4th  edition,  p.  44.  Van  Gotta,  Geologie,  p.  219.  Guyot,  Crea- 
tion p.  79.    Dawson,  The  Story  of  the  Earth  ani  Man,  p.  12. 


240  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

logical  epochs,  even  down  through  the  Tertiary; 
the  original  Archean  land  in  this  country  lying  mainly 
(though  not  solely)  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  ^^ 
Just  so  the  previous  day's  result  was  a  protracted 
process,  described  in  its  completeness.  This  method, 
as  will  be  seen,  runs  through  the  whole  chapter 
and  is  to  be  distinctly  recognized,  since  it  furnishes 
a  key  to  the  next  description,  and  answers  the  most 
specious  objection  that  has  been  raised  to  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  account. 

For  on  the  same  third  day  are  introduced  "  grass, 
the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit  tree  yielding 
fruit  after  his  kind";  a  popular  description  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom,  as  we  call  it,  by  the  forms  visi- 
ble to  the  eye  and  known  to  all  mankind.  Here, 
as  before  and  after,  and  in  keeping  with  the  method 
which  we  are  bound  to  recognize  as  running  through 
the  whole  chapter,  the  vegetable  system  is  men- 
tioned as  a  w^hole,  in  its  completeness,  not  to  be 
alluded  to  again.  It  is  only  by  overlooking  this 
unquestionable  fact  of  the  entire  method  that  Mr. 
Huxley  and  Professor  Ladd  have  charged  an  ana- 
chronism upon  it,  inasmuch  as  the  cereals  and  fruit 
trees  occur  only  very  late  in  the  history  of  the  earth. 
With  the  recognition  of  this  unquestionable  method 
the  objection  vanishes.'* 

13  Le  Conte,  Revised  Edition  (1891),  p.  292.  C.  H.  Hitchcock,  Geology  of 
N.  H.,i.,  p.  511.  Dana,  2nd  edition,  p.  147;  4th  ed.,  p.  440.  These  writers 
speak  of  the  ocean  as  nearly  or  quite  universal.  Geikie,  however,  in  his  3rd 
edition  (1893),  p.  14,  doubts  its  absolute  universality,  though  affirming  the 
present  surface  contours  to  be  of  comparatively  recent  date. 

14  Guyot  calls  attention  distinctly  to  this  characteristic  of  the  narrative 
(Creation,  pp.  89,  90).  Dawson  overlooked  it  (Modern  Science  in  Bible 
Lands,  p.  17),  to  his  disadvantage,  as  did  Mr.  Gladstone  in  his  discussion 
with  Professor  Huxley. 

'  V        \ 


THE  CREA  TION  NARRA  TIVE  241 

The  introduction  of  vegetable  life,  as  here  an- 
nounced, prior  to  that  of  animal  life,  is  well  sus- 
tained. For  while,  from  their  perishable  nature 
and  the  high  temperature  of  the  period  of  metamor- 
phic  rocks,  no  plants  in  their  original  form  are,  or 
could  be  expected  to  be,  found  in  the  Archean  rocks, 
their  early  existence  is  a  matter  of  plain  and  direct 
inference,  or,  as  Dawson  puts  it,  "a  trite  conclu- 
sion to  natural  science."  For  (i)  the  temperature 
and  condition  of  the  water  and  the  air  would  admit 
vegetable  before  animal  life ;  (2)  animals  require 
plants  for  food;  (3)  the  existence  of  graphite, ^^  an- 
thracite, and  certain  iron  ores  in  great  quantities  in 
the  Archean  rocks,  indicates  abundant  early  vege- 
table life,  primarily  sea-weeds.'^  A  question  has 
been  raised  as  to  the  possibility  of  vegetation  be- 
fore the  incoming  of  solar  light;  whereas  the 
growth  of  vegetables  in  the  dark  (for  the  most  part 
colorless)  is  a  familiar  fact,  and  Godet  mentions 
that  M.  Famazin  in  all  his  experiments  upon  algse 
never  made  use  of  any  light  but  a  gas  lamp.  The 
same  writer  also  cites  the  botanist  Karl  Mueller, 
who  attributes  the  immense  change  and  progress  of 
vegetation  after  the  Carboniferous  era  "to  the  solar 
light.  "^^  Evidently  the  earth  was  not  yet  prepared 
for  the  higher  animal  life.     The  Archean  era,  dur- 

15  Dana  (2nd  edition,  p.  157)  says  that  some  layers  of  the  Archean  (Lau- 
rentian)  contain  twenty  per  cent  of  graphite.  While  admitting  (pp.  67-146) 
that  graphite  and  bog-iron  ore  are  results  in  connection  with  vegetation,  not 
so  exclusively  as  to  prove  it,  he  characterizes  (p.  144)  anthracite  as  "a  most 
highly  mineralized  form  of  vegetation."  Le  Conte,  Dana,  Dawson  and 
Hitchcock  regard  the  graphite  as  clear  evidence,  and  raise  no  doubt  as  to 
the  bog-iron  ore. 

16  Dana,  p.  454;  Le  Conte,  288,  304,  Revised  Edition. 

17  Godet,  Creation  and  Life,  pp.  32,  33,  48. 


242  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

ing  which  vegetable  life  is  supposed  to  have  been 
predominant,  was  relatively  the  longest  in  the 
earth's  geological  history  ;  according  to  Le  Conte, 
longer  than  all  subsequent  eras. 

The  fourth  stage  or  day  (verses  14-19)  brings,  as 
already  stated,  the  test  proof  that  the  description 
is  phenomenal,  addressed  to  the  eye ;  the  sun  and 
moon  described  alike,  as  they  appear,  to  rule  the 
day  and  the  night,  though  their  actual  function  is 
so  unlike,  the  one  being  a  luminary,  the  other  an 
opaque  reflector.  Here,  then,  is  a  visible  phenom- 
enon, the  appearance  or  disclosure  of  the  sun  and 
moon  in  their  relations  and  functions  to  the  earth. 
The  special  word  "create"  is  not  employed  here; 
they  had  been  already  created  as  part  of  the  heaven 
and  earth,  and  now  "God  said,  Let  there  be  lights  in 
the  firmament."  The  "setting"  them  in  the  heavens 
is  part  of  the  same  optical  description ;  and  the 
word  "made,"  in  the  summary  statement,  is  in  the 
Hebrew,  as  in  the  popular  English,  a  word  of  wide 
range,  covering  the  meanings  of  appointing,  con- 
stituting, establishing,  as(Ex.  vii.  i),  "I  have  made 
thee  a  god  to  Pharaoh."  When,  therefore.  Dr. 
Driver  insists  that  this  verse  affirms  the  "formation 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  not  merely  after  the  creation 
of  the  earth,  but  after  the  appearance  on  it  of  vegeta- 
tion," he  not  only  disregards  the  clearly  phenome- 
nal nature  of  the  representation,  but  puts  himself  in 
direct  conflict  with  the  first  verse  of  the  chapter, 
which  records  the  creation  of  "the  heaven"  and  the 
earth.     And  when  in  his  preceding  sentence  he  re- 


THE  CREATION  NARRATIVE  243 

marks,  as  an  objection  to  the  order  in  the  narrative, 
which  puts  vegetation  prior  to  animal  life,  that 
"plant  life  from  the  beginning,  in  its  earliest  and 
humblest  forms,  was  accompanied  by  similar  hum- 
ble types  of  animal  life,"  it  would  be  difficult  for 
him  to  prove  the  remark  by  competent  authority. 
But  this  visible  token,  the  full  disclosure  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  indicates  an  immense  progress. 
How  was  it  brought  about?  The  question  is  vir- 
tually answered  by  Le  Conte,^^  when  he  speaks  of 
the  withdrawal  of  the  "aqueous  vapor  and  carbonic 
acid"  that  had  been  "a  double  blanket"  to  the  earth, 
and  by  Dana  when  he  says  that  it  was  "after  the 
vapors  which  till  then  had  shrouded  the  sphere  were 
withdrawn.  "^^  The  intervening  resultant  changes 
were  vast,  and  the  process  long-continued,  and,  from 
the  nature  of  it,  difficult  to  assign  to  a  very  definite 
period.  Dr.  Dawson  appears  to  place  it  after  the 
Laurentian,^"  Hugh  Miller  after  the  Devonian,  if 
not  after  the  Carboniferous.^^  It  is  perhaps  definite 
enough  to  say  with  Dana,  "It  must  have  preceded 
the  animal  system,  since  the  sun  is  the  grand  source 
of  activity  throughout  nature  on  the  earth,  and  is 
essential  to  the  existence  of  life  except  in  its  lowest 
f orms, "  ^^  as  well  as  for  the  additional  reason  as- 
signed by  Le  Conte,^^  that  "the  progressive  purifi- 
cation of  the  atmosphere  by  the  withdrawal  of  the 
superabundant  carbonic  acid  and  returning  the  pure 
oxygen   fitted  it   for    the  purposes   of  higher    and 

i8  Geology,  p.  382.  21  Testimony  of  the  Rocks,  p.  203-41  208. 

19  Geology,  2nd  ed.,  p.  769.  22   Geology,  2nd  ed.,  p.  766. 

ao  Origin  of  the  World,  p.  204.        23  Geology,  p.  382. 


244  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

higher  animals."  The  process,  though  long  con- 
tinued, is  described  as  usual  in  its  completeness. 
The  record  is  unassailable.  And  in  its  mention  of 
the  practical  uses  of  these  chief  luminaries,  as  mark- 
ing off  the  years,  months,  days  and  "seasons"  of 
various  kinds,  the  popular  nature  of  the  narrative  is 
still  manifest;  they  are  the  world's  great  chro- 
nometer. 

The  fifth  stage  or  day  (vs.  20-25)  ^^  characterized 
by  animal  life  in  three  forms  :^*  (i)  Marine  life, 
verse  20;  (2)  winged  creatures  (not  "fowl"),  verse 
20;  (3)  monsters,  verse  21,  not  "whales"  (A.  V.) 
nor  "sea-monsters"  alone  (R.  V.),  as  will  presently 
be  shown,  but  "  stretched-out"  creatures.  This  is 
a  brief  statement  of  facts  as  now  known,  and  in  the 
same  general  order,  although  that  last  is  not  to  be 
regarded  as  a  vital  point,  (i)  Marine  life.  The 
primordial  rocks,  says  Dana,  have  afforded  evidence 
only  of  marine  life.^^  As  to  its  abundance  Le  Conte 
unconsciously  echoes  the  very  words  of  Genesis, 
which  reads  (R.  V.,  margin),  "Let  the  waters  swarm 
with  swarms  of  living  creatures,"  while  the  geolo- 
gist writes  concerning  the  Silurian  age,  "These  seas 

24  A  singular  objection  is  that  of  Prof.  Ladd  (Doctrine  of  Sacred  Scripture, 
i.,  p.  162),  that  the  narrative  does  not  deal  with  "the  impossibility  of  separat- 
ing the  lower  grades  of  vegetable  from  those  of  animal  life."  This  is  the 
demand  that  a  bold  outline  sketch,  phenomenal  in  character,  and  for  man- 
kind at  large,  shall  enter  into  certain  minutiae  of  a  scientific  character,  un- 
recognizable by  mankind  at  large.  Dr.  Asa  Gray,  however,  to  whom  he 
refers,  though  speaking  of  the  "close  connection  of  the  lower  with  the  higher 
forms,"  does  yet  distinguish  between  the  vegetable  and  the  animal  (Natural 
Science  and  Religion,  pp.  32,  33).  The  separation  is  palpable  enough  to  the 
average  man,  for  whom  the  narrative  was  written.  It  may  be  that  the  Eozoon 
Canadense  of  Dawson,  found  in  the  Laurentian,  is  an  animal,  though  strongly 
disputed  (see  Geikie,  pp.  694,  695).  If  so,  exceptional  instances  would  not  in- 
validate a  characterizing  description  of  the  predominant  condition,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  equally  remarkable  outburst  of  animal  life  at  the  fifth 
stage. 

25  Dana,  2nd  ed.,  p.  169:4  th  ed.,  p.  469. 


THE  CREA  TION  NARRA  TIVE  245 

literally  swarmed  with  living  beings,"  mentioning 
over  10,000  species  as  having  been  described  from 
the  Silurian  alone,  and  these  to  be  regarded  as  a 
small  fragment  of  the  actual  fauna  of  that  age.^® 
In  the  Devonian  came  the  great  outburst  of  fishes. 

Here  let  it  be  observed  that  it  would  not  mar  the 
correctness  of  this  general,  outline  description,  if 
exceptional  instances  of  marine  life  were  found  in 
the  huge  mass  of  earlier  vegetation,  or  before  the 
full  shining  of  the  sun.  It  is  also  to  be  observed 
that  here  too  the  new  order  is  described  as  a  whole, 
although  every  species  of  the  earlier  marine  life 
has  disappeared,  to  be  succeeded  by  different 
species ;  but  no  further  allusion  is  made  to  the  fact. 

(2)  The  "  flying' '  creatures,  not  necessarily  fowls, 
but  "what  flies"  (Fuerst).  The  geological  history 
of  the  world  actually  shows  the  incoming  of  the 
winged  tribes  after  that  of  marine  life.  Without 
making  any  account  of  the  earliest  of  the  winged 
creatures,  namely  winged  insects,  which  were  some- 
what numerous  in  the  Devonian, ^^  and  in  the  Car- 
boniferous attained  a  spread  of  wings  of  twenty-six 
inches,"^  we  encounter  in  the  Jurassic  the  peculiar 
feathered  creature  called  the  archgeopteryx,  with 
wings  of  three  feet  spread  ;  and  at  least  twenty  spe- 
cies of  true  birds  in  the  Cretaceous  of  New  Jersey 
and  Kansas  alone. "^  But  the  most  extraordinary 
phenomenon  in  this  line  appears  in  the  bat-like  or 
lizard-like  creatures  called  pterosaurs,  of  several 
genera,   one  genus  of  them   called  pterodactyles. 

26  Le  Conte,  p.  30a.  28  Id.,  p.  398. 

27  Id.,  p.  334-  559  Id-.  488. 


246  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

They  begin  apparently  in  the  Jurassic,  and  were  of 
many  kinds,  having  an  extent  of  wings  ranging 
from  two  or  three  feet  up  to  twenty  and  twenty-five. 
Seven  species  were  found  in  the  western  Cretace- 
ous, one  with  a  spread  of  eighteen  feet  and  two  of 
twenty-five  feet  f"  and  ten  species  in  Great  Britain, 
one  having  a  spread  of  twenty-five  feet.^^  What- 
ever aspects  the  earth  might  present  at  this  stage, 
nothing  could  be  more  striking  than  these  huge 
winged  creatures  darkening  the  sky.  They  occur 
from  the  Jurassic  into  the  Cretaceous. 

(3)  The  third  characteristic  of  this  stage  or  day 
is  what  the  common  version  renders  wrongly 
"whales,"  and  the  Revised  Version  inadequately 
"sea-monsters,"  while  Gesenius,more  in  accordance 
with  the  facts,  makes  it  include  the  land  serpent, 
dragon,  monster,  as  the  actual  usage  requires  (Ex. 
vii.  9;  X.  12;  Deut.  xxxii.  33;  Ps.  xci.  13;  Jer.  li. 
34),  adding  that  it  is  so  called  from  its  extension  or 
length,  being  derived  from  a  verb  meaning  to 
stretch  out.  Tuch,  Knobel,  Dillmann,  Delitzsch,  all 
give  it  as  the  "long  stretched  out"  animals,  among 
which  Delitzsch  specifies  the  saurian.  The  serpent 
into  which  the  rod  of  Moses  was  changed  (Ex.  vii. 
9),  and  the  dragon  of  the  other  three  passages 
above  cited,  are  called  by  this  name,  all  apparently 
land  animals,  one  of  them  certainly  a  reptile. 

Now  there  is  a  long  period  of  geological  history, 
beginning  somewhat  before  and  extending  through 
the  Mesozoic,  which  the   geologists  term  the  "era 

30  Id.,  pp.  442,  445,  446,  31  Geikie,  p.  931, 


THE  CREATION  NARRATIVE  247 

of  reptiles"  from  the  extraordinary  profusion  of  rep- 
tile life,  as  well  as  the  immense  size  of  its  species.'^ 
The  size  of  some  of  these  species  is  given  by  Geikie 
as  follows :  Hadrosaur,  28  feet  in  length  ;  ornitho- 
tarsus,  35;  ceratops,  30;  dinosaur,  40;  cetiosaur, 
50;  mososaur,  75 ;  atlantosaur,  loo/'^  Le  Conte 
gives  additional  statements :  Ichthyosaur,  30  to  40 
feet;  plesiosaur,  40;  megalosaur,  50;  atlantosaur, 
115.^*  Sir  John  Lubbock  gives  the  titanosaur  the 
length  of  100  feet.^^  Some  of  these  were  sea-mon- 
sters, some  land  animals,  and  some  amphibious. 
Not  only  was  their  size  enormous,  but  their  num- 
bers were  great.  At  least  fifty  species  of  moso- 
saurs  have  been  found  in  the  Cretaceous  of  America, 
fifteen  or  twenty  species  of  dinosaurs  have  been  de- 
scribed by  Professor  Marsh,  and  there  are  sixteen 
of  plesiosaurs  in  Great  Britain  alone. ^'^  "There  are 
now  on  the  whole  face  of  the  earth,"  writes  Pro- 
fessor Le  Conte,  "only  six  reptiles  over  fifteen  feet 
long,"  whereas  "in  the  Cretaceous  of  the  United 
States  alone  one  hundred  and  fifty  species  of  rep- 
tiles have  been  found,  most  of  them  of  gigantic 
size";  and  "the  fossil  fauna  of  any  period  is  but  a 
fragment  of  the  actual  fauna  of  that  period."  What 
fact  in  the  earth's  earlier  condition  could  be  more 
striking  ? 

Looking  now  at  these  three  phenomena,  partly 

32  Lyell,  Miller,  Le  Conte,  Dana,  Agassiz,  Geikie. 

33  Geikie,  pp.  892,  933. 

34  Le  Conte,  ist  ed.     In  the  2nd  edition  the  length  of  the  atlantosaur  is  not 
given. 

35  Lubbock,  Address  before  the  British  Association  of  Science. 

36  Le  Conte,  pp.  439,  487,  460. 


248  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

successive  and  partly  contemporaneous,  what  three 
bold  strokes  could  so  well  describe  that  state  of 
things  as  these  three :  the  waters  svv^arming  with 
marine  life,  the  face  of  the  heavens  darkened  by 
such  flying  creatures,  and  the  stretched  out  m.onslers 
under  whose  ponderous  forms  the  earth  groaned  r^' 
The  sixth  day's  work  (verses  24-31), like  the  third, 
is  twofold.  In  the  first  section  are  "cattle,  beast 
of  the  earth,  and  creeping  thing."  It  is  a  purely 
popular  description,  universally  intelligible,  and 
ver}' well  explained  by  Guyot :  "In  the  Tertiary 
the  herbivorous  animals,  domesticated  by  man,  are 
named  cattle,  while  the  others,  including  the  car- 
nivorous, are  called  the  beasts  of  the  earth  or  wild 
beasts,  and  the  smaller  ones  the  creeping  things."  ^^ 
These  evidently  include  the  greater  and  smaller 
mammals,  as  we  now  call  them.  The  geologists 
have  designated  the  Tertiary  as  the  "age  of  mam- 
mals" ;  but  the  narrative  no  more  uses  that  term  than 
in  the  previous  period  the  word  reptiles  or  amphi- 
bians. The  larger  animals  are  mentioned  in  the 
two  most  obvious  divisions,  and  the  smaller  are 
characterized  as  they  would  appear  to  the  eye, 
"creeping  upon  the  earth."  Dr.  Driver  has  well 
said  of  this  narrative:  "It  groups  the  living  crea- 
tures under  the  great  subdivisions  which  appeal  to 
the  eye."  The  geologists  in  their  designation  of 
this  period  are  in  accord  with  Genesis,  in  the  gen- 
eral characterization,  and  as  such  it  would  not  be 

37  Geikie  (p.  892)  gives  the  estimated  weight  of  the  broiUosaur,  though  but 
50  feet  in  length,  at  twenty  tons. 

38  Guyot,  Creation,  p.  119. 


THE  CREATION  NARRATIVE  249 

impaired  by  any  previous  limited  introduction  of 
semi-oviparous  animals,  or  even  oviparous  (if  such 
were  discovered).  As  an  outline  sketch  for  its  pur- 
pose, and  for  the  world,  the  case  could  not  be  better 
stated.  Mr.  Huxley,  however,  in  order  to  force  a 
misrepresentation  upon  the  writer,  insists  on  press- 
ing upon  the  term  "creeping  thing"  a  technical 
meaning  which  would  designate  a  lizard  or  reptile.^^ 
But  (i)  the  reptile  species  have  already  been  dis- 
missed; (2)  the  Hebrew  word  is  elsewhere  applied 
to  the  motion  of  all  land  animals  whatever  (Gen. 
vii.  2  ;  ix.  3 ;  Ps.  civ.  20) ;  (3)  the  interpretation 
here  given  perfectly  accords  with  the  writer's 
method  throughout,  describing  by  the  most  obvious 
marks — the  larger  animals  in  two  marked  groups, 
and  the  smaller  in  another  group  as  they  appear  on 
the  landscape  creeping  upon  the  earth.  Homer, 
with  the  same  picturesqueness,  speaks  of  "all  things 
that  breathe  and  creef  upon  the  earths' ^^ 

While  this  first  half  of  the  sixth  stage  actually 
describes  the  introduction  and  predominance  of  what 
we  call  mammal  life,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the 
writer  does  not  commit  himself  to  any  such  defini- 
tion nor  limitation.  But  the  stage  described  is  all 
the  more  remarkable  in  two  respects:  (i)  It  was 
preceded  by  the  extinction  of  the  huge  reptilian 
fauna  of  the  Mesozoic,  a  "  destruction  great,  world- 
wide, and  one  of  the  most  marvelous  events  in  the 
geological  history";"  (2)  the  incoming  of  the  new 

39  Huxley,  Science  and  Hebrew  Tradition,  pp.  170  seq.     He  refers  to  Lev.. 
X.  29,  where,  however,  a  different  word  is  used. 

40  Iliad,  xvii.,  446.  41  Dana,   p.  877. 


250  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

order  of  life  in  the  Tertiary  was  a  great  and  some- 
what sudden  outburst,  "a  rapid  and  most  extraordi- 
nary change  in  the  life  system,"^"  at  once  distin- 
guished both  by  the  number  of  species  (''all  the 
main  divisions'')  and  the  size  of  some  of  them/^  In 
the  Miocene  of  the  Siwalik  Hills,  India,  are  found 
remains  of  eighty-four  species  of  mammals,  includ- 
ing three  species  of  mastodons,  seven  of  elephants, 
five  of  rhinoceros,  from  four  to  seven  of  hippopota- 
mus, and  three  of  the  horse  family/^  In  India  was 
also  the  dinotherium,  as  large  in  proportion  to  our 
elephant  as  an  elephant  to  an  ox ;  *^  so  that  while 
the  fauna  of  India  is  one  of  the  noblest  in  the 
world,  "it  is  paltry  in  comparison  with  that  of  the 
much  more  limited  Miocene,  India."  In  recogniz- 
ing this  amazing  and  sudden  change,  the  narrative 
is  surely  impregnable. 

The  second  half  of  this  day  or  stage  is  marked 
by  the  introduction  of  man,  the  crowning  work,  and 
pre-eminently  characteristic.  The  order  accords 
with  what  is  known.  It  would  not  detract  from 
the  weight  of  the  outline  sketch  in  recording  this 
one  great  event  w^ere  it  found  that  other  genera 
continued  to  be  introduced  after  the  incoming  of 
the  human  race.  But  apparently  it  is  not  so.  For 
while  it  is  said  that  some  thirty  species  of  birds  and 
^nimals  have  become  extinct  within  historic  times,*® 

42  Le  Conte,  p.  501. 

43  There  were  what  are  called  anticipations  of  mammal  life  in  the  Juvassic 
and  Cretaceous;  but  probably  all  oviparous  or  semi-oviparous  (Dana,  p.  852), 
and  "like  mice  and  rats  in  size"  (lb.,  p.  768). 

44  Le  Conte,  p.  525,  526. 

45  Dawson,  The  Earth  and  Man,  p.  251. 

46  Winchell,  Preadamite  Man,  p.  434. 


THE  CREA  TION  NARRA  TIVE  251 

there  appear  on  the  other  hand  only  variations  of 
species.  Man  belongs  to  the  latest  life.  This  fact 
is  all  that  is  necessary  for  the  present  discussion. 
It  is  needless  to  specify  at  what  precise  geological 
epoch  he  appeared,  or  how  many  years  ago ;  al- 
though it  may  be  remarked  in  passing  how  in  re- 
cent times  assertions  as  to  the  early  origin  of  the 
human  race  have  been  steadily  growing  more  mod- 
erate/^ and  the  demands  for  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  years  are  becoming  obsolete.  A  very  significant 
indication  is  to  be  seen  in  the  two  editions  of  Le 
Conte's  excellent  Geology.  The  first  edition  (1879) 
said  that  "man's  time  on  the  earth  maybe  100,000 
years,  or  it  may  be  only  10,000,  but  more  probably 
the  former  than  the  latter."*^  The  revised  edition 
(1891)  repeats  the  numbers,  but  omits  the  opinion 
in  favor  of  the  larger  one. 

But  the  account  of  man  goes  much  further.  It 
not  only  presents  him  at  the  close  of  the  series,  but 
at  the  head  of  it,  as  man,  with  simple  relations  in- 
deed, but  in  his  clear  and  entire  humanity.  So  all 
antiquarian  research.  While  the  cave  men,  in  their 
remote  locations,  are  not  necessarily  to  be  regarded 
as  proper  specimens  of  primitive  man,  they  yet  re- 
veal all  the  qualities  of  true  humanity,  with  weap- 
ons, implements,  ornaments,  and  apparently  burials 
and  fires. 

Further  3'et,  the  account  assigns  to  man  "domin- 
ion" over  the  whole  animal  world  (verses  26,  27). 
He  has  always  exercised  it.     Even  the   cave  men 

47  See  note  xxiv.,  Appendix. 

48  Le  Conte,  p.  570,  ist  edition;  p.  619,  2nd  edition. 


252  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

somehow  mastered  the  largest  and  fiercest  wild  ani- 
mals, and  they  sketched  the  cave-bear  on  a  pebble, 
and  the  mastodon  on  his  own  ivory ;  and  they  used 
a  variet}^  of  animals  for  food. 

The  narrative  rises  to  its  highest  point  when  it 
declares  man  to  be  made  in  the  image  of  God :  pri- 
marily in  his  moral  nature — reason  and  free  will ; 
and  secondarily,  and  partly  in  consequence  thereof, 
in  his  intellectual  nature.  This  is  an  indisputable 
fact,  thus  unfolded  by  Dana  in  the  last  year  of  his 
life:  "There  is  in  man  therefore  a  spiritual  ele- 
ment in  which  the  brute  has  no  share.  His  power 
of  indefinite  progress,  his  thoughts  and  desires  that 
look  onward  even  beyond  time,  his  recognition  of 
spiritual  existence  and  of  a  Divinity  above  all,  evince 
a  nature  that  partakes  of  the  infinite  and  divine.  "^^ 

And  now  a  few  more  words  on  the  "day."  It 
has  been  made  a  chief  ground  of  assault.  But  when 
viewed  in  connection  with  the  purpose  and  method 
of  the  narrative,  it  is  of  the  easiest  explanation  and 
vindication.  The  explanation,  too,  is  not  the  result 
of  a  modern  sientific  dilemma.  Augustine  in  the 
fourth  century  said  that  it  was  impossible  to  com- 
prehend what  was  God's  dayf*'  and  the  venerable 
Bede  in  the  eighth  century  suggested  that  this  in- 
cludes "omnia  volumina  saeculorum."^^  The  nar- 
rative itself  gives  warning  in  the  use  of  the  word 
before  there  was  or  could  be  a  solar  day,  and  by 
the  analogy  of  God's  day  of  rest,  which  has  lasted 

49  Dana,  p.  1018,  last  edition. 

50  Civitate  Dei,  xii.,  6. 

51  Com.  in  Pent.,  ii.,  p.  1940.    He  speaks  differently  in  the  Hexaemeron. 


THE  CREA  TION  NA  RRA  TIVE  253 

some  thousands  of  years.     "  Da}  s  of  God  are  in- 
tended," says  Delitzsh. 

This  leads  to  the  simplest  explanation  of  the  use 
of  this  term,  namely,  it  is  but  a  part  of  the  (so- 
called)  anthropomorphic  representation  that  runs 
throughout  the  narrative.  Everything  is  described 
not  only  in  the  language  of  common  life,  but  by 
human  processes — ' '  God  said, "  "  God  saw, ' '  and  the 
like ;  and  so  the  series  of  stages  in  the  v^ork  is  de- 
scribed under  the  easy  figure  of  human  days'  labor, 
naturally  connected  with  the  first  alternation  of  dark- 
ness and  Jight.  So  Bunsen :  "The  six  sections  of 
this  work  are  conceived  under  the  ima^je  of  the 
earthly  day  as  six  stages  of  progress  in  light  for- 
mation.    Thus  the   earthly  day  is  the  most  fitting 

picture,  the  most  adequate  framing 

Rightly  taken,  the  text  needs  no  violent  interpreta- 
tion ;  the  slightly  veiled  view  underlying  it  makes 
itself  clear.  "^^  To  the  same  effect  Delitzsch  says, 
"The  account  represents  the  work  of  God  accord- 
ing to  the  image  of  human  days.  ...  It  lies, 
however,  in  the  nature  of  a  copy  that  it  should  cor- 
respond only  on  a  very  reduced  scale  with  the  in- 
commensurable greatness  of  the  original."  Dr. 
Driver's  admission  has  been  already  cited. 

The  method  was  as  wise  as  it  was  natural  and 
simple.  The  lapse  of  time  remains  still  unknown, 
and  if  it  were  known  it  would  still  be  incomprehen- 
sible. Why  should  the  human  race  have  been  per- 
plexed with  an  irrelevant  issue,  and  with  statements 

52  Bibel  Werk,  i.  I.,  p.  6. 


254  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

which  would  for  thousands  of  years  have  been  a 
stumbling  block,  statements  which  would  have  been 
of  no  account  for  the  purpose  of  the  narrative  ?  The 
thing  which  has  been  attacked  as  a  blemish  is 
clearly  an  excellence. 

Guyot,  Dana  and  Dawson  have  adopted  a  different 
mode  of  answering  the  objection.  They  point  to 
the  flexible  use  of  the  word  in  the  narrative  itself, 
in  five  different  ways:  first,  the  "day"  before  the 
function  of  the  sun  (vs.  5,  8,  13);  second,  the  light 
portion  of  that  day  (v.  5) ;  third,  the  solar  day  (v. 
19) ;  fourth,  the  light  portion  of  that  day  (vs.  16, 
18) ;  fifth,  the  entire  time  of  the  creative  work  (ii. 
4).  They  also  refer  to  the  popular  use  of  the  word 
in  both  the  Scriptures  and  in  common  life ;  day  of 
visitation,  of  salvation,  of  prosperity  or  of  adversity, 
"in  my  day,"  etc.  While  this  mode  of  defense  is 
tenable,  it  is  perhaps  simpler  and  quite  as  satisfac- 
tory to  rest  on  the  other  mode. 

It  has  also  been  objected  that  the  fourth  com- 
mandment, requiring  the  observance  of  the  seventh 
day  in  imitation  of  God's  day  of  rest,  limits  the 
"day"  of  the  narrative  to  the  solar  day.  But  it  is 
an  obvious  and  sufficient  reply  that  the  ratio  or 
analogy  remains  undisturbed,  and  thus  the  example 
holds  good ;  as  God  rested,  ceased  from  creating, 
on  His  seventh  day,  so  He  requires  man  to  rest  on 
his  seventh  day.    It  is  "a  copy  on  a  reduced  scale." 

It  has  also  been  asserted  that  the  form  of  state- 
ment, "there  was  evening  and  there  was  morning, 
one  day,"  requires  us  to  understand  the  solar  day. 


THE  CREA  TION  NARRA  TIVE  255 

But  this  alternation  of  light  and  darkness  which 
suggests  and  underlies  the  mode  of  conception,  is 
equally  consistent  with  the  longer  as  the  shorter 
period.  It  but  carries  on  the  figure,  denoting  the 
beginning  and  the  ending,  and  together  the  total  of 
one  stage,  phase,  or  chapter  of  the  creation. 

Thus  when  the  narrative  is  fairly  treated,  that  is, 
interpreted  according  to  its  ozvn  proved  method,  we 
find  not  only  the  five  or  six  main  points  of  unques- 
tionable truth  which  its  critics  have  admitted,  but 
their  objections  invalidated,  and  the  following  series 
of  remarkable  coincidences  with  the  latest  knowl- 
edge in  the  case : 

1.  All  the  present  adjustments  and  forces  of  na- 
ture had  a  beginning.  Science  now  traces  them  all 
back  to  their  successive  origin.  The  origination  of 
matter  it  cannot  disprove,  while  some  eminent 
scientists  maintain  it. 

2.  All  nature  is  one  coherent  system ;  a  truth 
more  and  more  fully  confirmed. 

3.  There  was  once  a  condition  of  the  globe  when 
no  life  existed  or  could  exist ;  fully  admitted  on  all 
hands. 

4.  The  fitting  up  of  the  globe  was  a  progressive 
work.     Evident. 

5.  Light  was  antecedent  to  and  independent  of 
the  sun's  performing  its  function  for  the  earth.  In- 
disputable. 

6.  The  earth  was  once  mainly  covered  with 
waters,  and  the  heavens  with  dense  vapors.  Well 
sustained. 


256  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

7.  There  came  subsequently  an  emergence  of 
the  continents  from  the  oceans.      Unquestionable. 

8.  An  early  succeeding  order  of  progress  was 
the  incoming  of  vegetation,  as  a  characteristic  event. 
Apparently  well  established. 

9.  The  heavenly  bodies  performed  their  special 
function  for  the  earth  only  at  an  advanced  stage  of 
its  history.      Unquestionable. 

10.  An  early  outburst  of  animal  life  was  an  im- 
mense sea  life.      Clearly  admitted. 

11.  Winged  creatures  followed  or  accompanied, 
as  a  conspicuous  feature.      Undeniable. 

12.  There  was  then  also  a  predominance  of  huge 
monsters.      Established. 

13.  Later  came  the  chief  movement  now  called 
mammalian.     Universally  admitted. 

14.  The  series  was  completed  by  the  advent  of 
man.     Fully  sustained. 

15.  Man  made  his  appearance  in  possession  of 
his  distinctive  human  faculties,  and  as  lord  of  the 
animal  world.     A  settled  fact. 

Such  are  the  statements  here  made,  when  the 
writer  is  permitted  to  tell  his  story  in  his  own  sim- 
ple and  naUiral  \Nd,y  \  a  grand  outline  of  the  earth's 
story,  sustained  throughout  b}'  the  latest  knowledge 
of  facts.  A  most  extraordinar}^  record  it  is ;  the 
more  so  because  only  within  the  century  past  could 
its  truthfulness  be  authenticated.  But  now  it  stands 
forth,  in  the  words  of  Professor  Dana,  "both  true 
and  divine." 

If  it  be   said,  as  it  has  been,  that  the   ordinary 


THE  CREA  TION  NARRA  TIVE  257 

reader  would  not  apprehend  all  that  is  covered  by 
these  statements,  as,  for  example,  the  lapse  of  time 
included  in  the  day,  the  reply  is  that  the  details 
which  awaited  the  late  discoveries  of  science  did 
not  hinder  the  apprehension  and  impression  of  the 
great  truths  taught  by  the  narrative.  Some  of  the 
facts  now  proved  baffle  the  imagination  of  even  the 
scientist  to  apprehend,  and  the  early  revelation  of 
them  would  have  been  not  only  useless,  but  a  stum- 
bling block  for  several  thousand  years.  In  truth, 
there  is  no  agreement  now.  The  histor}^  is  given 
in  the  most  abbreviated  form — "on  a  reduced  scale. " 
After  showing  the  remarkable  harmony  of  this 
terse  narrative  with  the  results  of  modern  investiga- 
tion, there  is  no  special  occasion  to  compare  it  with 
other  so-called  cosmogonies.  Ovid's  description  of 
creation  was  written  while  in  all  probability  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  may  have  been  in  Rome,  and 
resembles  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  enough  to  be 
almost  a  travesty,  absurd  in  some  of  its  details. 
Since  the  discovery  of  what  are  called  the  creation 
tablets  in  1874  ^7  George  Smith,  it  has  been  some- 
what customary  to  view  them  as  coming  from  a 
common  source  with  the  Hebrew  account,  and 
sometimes  to  suggest  that  the  latter  have  come  from 
the  former.  The  tablets  found  by  Smith  were  from 
Nineveh  and  were  supposed  to  date  from  about  650 
B.  C.  Duplicates  and  additional  fragments,  since 
found  at  Borsippa  and  Sippara,  have  led  some  As- 
syrian scholars  to  refer  them  to  a  much  earlier  date, 
Boscawen  as  early  as  B.  C.  2200-2500,^^  and  Jensen 

53  Boscawen,  p.  7a. 


^58  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

supposing  an  origin  of  the  story  itself  as  earty  as 
3000  B.  C.  Sayce,  on  the  other  hand,  has  expressed 
the  opinion  that  they  are  "of  late  date."^*  An- 
other Chaldean  account  has  long  been  known, 
handed  down  by  Berosus  of  the  time  of  Alexander 
the  Great.  Space  does  not  admit,  nor  does  our 
purpose  require  here  a  full  discussion  of  these  cos- 
mogonies. Those  who  most  strongly  advocate  a 
connection  with  the  Hebrew  narrative  find  it  nec- 
essary to  admit  very  radical  differences.  Indeed 
Boscawen  says  that  "in  the  curious  Babylonian  cos- 
mogony preserved  by  Berosus  is  found  so  little  re- 
semblance to  the  Hebrew  that  it  hardly  enters  into 
the  field  of  comparison.  "^^ 

But  the  Assyrian  and  the  Babylonian  tablets  con- 
tain, together  with  fundamental  differences,  more 
resemblances  in  some  of  the  details.  The  chief 
points  of  resemblance  suggested  in  this  tablet  cos- 
mogony are  the  following:  (i)  A  primitive  chaos 
of  waters,  which,  however,  is  the  origin  of  all  else, 
in  which  occurs  the  Tiamat  or  Tiavat,  which,  it  is 
conjectured,  corresponds  to  the  Hebrew  Tehom, 
"the  deep";  (2)  the  making  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
the  god  Anu  making  an  abode  for  the  gods  Ea  and 
Bel,  with  great  gates  and  side  bolts  and  a  staircase  ; 
(3)  the  creation  of  the  cattle  of  the  field,  the  wild 
beasts  of  the  field  and  the  creeping  things  of  the 
field.  It  is  also  supposed  that  there  must  have 
been  seven  tablets  corresponding  to  the  seven 
days   of   creation,    although     the    supposed    sixth 

54  Records  of  the  Past,  New  Series,  i.,  p.  12a. 

55  Boscawen,  p.  42. 


THE  CREA  TION  NARRA  TIVE  259 

is  wholly  wanting  at  present,  and  only  frag- 
ments of  the  second,  third  and  seventh  are  found, 
while  the  fourth  covers  four  printed  pages  with  the 
conflict  between  Bel  and  Tiamat,  in  which  Sayce 
would  find  the  conflict  between  darkness  and  light. 
The  great  and  fundamental  differences  are  such  as 
these  :  (i)  The  thoroughly  polytheistic  character  of 
the  tablet  account,  there  even  being  a  time  when 
the  gods  did  not  exist,  and  when  an  early  pair  of 
gods  was  produced,  and  other  gods  descended  from 
them  by  successive  generations ;  (2)  its  materialism, 
the  first  pair  of  gods  having  been  produced  from 
the  primeval  waters ;  (3)  the  impossibility  of  group- 
ing the  tablets  in  parallel  correspondence  to  the 
Hebrew  days  of  creation,  while  no  six  stages  of 
creation  can  be  found  in  them  except  conjecturally ; 
(4)  the  vagueness  and  diffuseness  of  most  of  the 
statements,  in  singular  contrast  to  the  terse  distinct- 
ness of  the  Hebrew  narrative.  The  best  showing 
of  the  difference  is  the  printing  of  the  two  side  by 
side. 

But  whatever  resemblance  may  be  found  between 
the  two  must  not  divert  attention  from  the  clear, 
proved  truthfulness  and  dignity  of  the  one  and  the 
grave  errors  and  childishness  of  the  other.  And 
while  the  question  of  priority  is  not  important  when 
the  one  is  found  to  be  true  and  the  other  untrue  in 
its  very  basis,  yet  if  there  is  any  relation  to  be  rec- 
ognized, we  may  ask,  which  is  the  more  probable 
supposition,  and  conformed  to  all  experience — that 
the  simple  and  majestic  narrative  of  Genesis  grew 


260  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

out  of  this  materialistic,  polytheistic  account,  or  that 
the  latter  was  a  corruption  and  far-off  echo  of  the 
truthful  story? 

The  tablet  cosmogony,  however,  serves  two  im- 
portant ends:  (i)  If  the  early  date  claimed  for  it 
is  correct,  it  shows  that  another,  the  Hebrew,  cos- 
mogony may  easily  and  naturally  be  as  old  as  the 
time  of  the  Exodus  and  far  older ;  (2)  inasmuch  as 
it  contains  certain  statements  corresponding  in  some 
measure  to  those  of  both  the  so-called  Elohistic  and 
Jehovistic  documents,  it  is  so  far  forth  an  indication 
of  the  coequal  antiquity  of  the  whole  of  that  He- 
brew narrative,  and  a  kind  of  voucher  for  it.  And 
yet,  as  we  have  seen,  the  narrative  needs  no  such 
voucher. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


THE  SABBATH 


The  extreme  antiquity  of  the  Sabbath  coincides 
with  the  Scripture  account  of  its  early  and  divine 
origin.  The  modern  critical  analysis  assigns  this 
portion  of  the  narrative  to  the  late  Priest  Code,  so 
called.  Long  before  this  analysis  some  writers 
(e.  g.  Paley)  held  this  portion  of  it  to  be  an  antici- 
patory statement  of  what  actually  took  place  first 
in  connection  with  the  fall  of  the  manna  in  the 
wilderness.  Without  attempting  peremptorily  to 
decide  this  last  question,  it  may  be  said  that  this  in- 
terpretation supposes  an  unrecognizable  break  in  a 
narrative  otherwise  continuous ;  and  also  that  the 
recognition  of  the  Sabbath  in  the  wilderness  (Ex. 
xvi.  22,  seq.)  favors  rather  the  view  that  it  was  the 
revival  of  an  established,  though  perhaps  neglected, 
institution,  than  the  introduction  of  a  new  one. 
Moreover  the  indications  of  the  institution  are  not 
confined  to  the  so-called  Priest  Code,  but  occur  in 
the  Jehovist  section  as  well,  and  rest  on  outside  sup- 
port. 

While,  therefore,  we  necessarily  lack  the  means 
of  proving  from  outside  sources  that  the  Sabbath 
was  instituted  with  the  introduction  of  man — and 
while  the  most  important  point  is  that  it  is  a  Divine 
institution — we  have  strong  evidence  that  it  was  of 


'262  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

great  antiquity,  pointing  even  to  its  being  as  old  as 
the  human  race,  certainly  beyond  the  range  of 
history. 

1.  Early  scriptural  indications  of  the  peculiarity 
and  special  prominence  of  the  number  seven,  and 
septenary  divisions.  Cain  was  to  be  avenged  seven- 
fold (Gen.  iv.  15),  and  Lamech  seventy  and  seven- 
fold (iv.  24).  Noah  took  clean  beasts  by  sevens 
(vii.  3) ;  Abraham  set  apart  seven  ewe-lambs  as 
v/itness  of  the  covenant  (xxi.  28-31);  Balaam  twice 
prepares  seven  altars,  and  offers  seven  oxen  and 
seven  rams  (Num.  xxiii.,  i,  2,  29,  30).  Some  of 
these  passages  are  assigned  even  by  modern  criti- 
cism to  dates  as  early  as  750  and  800  B.  C.  ;  and 
the  last  mentioned  is  concerning  a  non-Israelite 
transaction.  It  is  not  without  plausibility,  not  to 
say  probability,  that  Wayland  and  others  have  un- 
derstood "the  end  of  days"  (Gen.  iv.  3,  Hebrew), 
when  Cain  and  Abel  brought  their  offerings  appar- 
ently at  the  same  time,  to  be  the  end  of  seven  days. 
The  interval  of  seven  days  occurs  three  times  in  the 
account  of  the  deluge,  in  what  late  critics  assign  to 
the  Jehovist,  or  oldest  portion  of  the  Pentateuch. 
Circumcision  was  to  be  on  the  eighth  day,  that  is, 
after  seven  days  (Gen.  xvii.  11,  12).  The  Egyp- 
tian mourning  for  Jacob  was  seventy  (7x10)  days, 
and  Joseph's  morning  at  Atad  seven  days  (1.  3,  10), 
showing  that  such  was  the  custom  with  Israel  in  the 
early  days  in  Egypt.  At  the  Passover  no  leaven 
was  to  be  used  for  seven  days. 

2.  The  embodiment  of  seven  as  a  sacred  number 


THE  SABBA  TH  263 

in  the  structure  of  the  Hebrew  language.  The 
word  used  from  Genesis  onward  for  taking  a  solemn 
oath  was  to  "seven  oneself,  "to  use  the  sacred  num- 
ber. This  carries  us  back  apparently  to  the  incipi- 
ent stage  of  the  language. 

3.  The  early  diffusion  of  the  same  sanctity  of  the 
number  seven  in  the  region  of  Babylonia.  Schrader 
informs  us  that  the  Babylonish  literature  and  espe- 
cially the  hymns,  both  in  the  original  Sumirio-Ac- 
cadian  forms  and  in  the  Assyrio-Semitic  translations, 
show  "how  deeply  rooted  already  was  the  sacred- 
ness  of  the  number  seven  in  the  being  of  the  non- 
Semitic  and  pre-Semitic  Baby lonism"  ;^  and  he  cites 
instance  upon  instance.  Professor  Davis  cites  in- 
stances proving  that  "a  seven-day  period  was  a 
measure  of  time  in  vogue  among  the  Semites  in 
remote  ages."^  Lenormant  says  that  the  sacred 
character  of  the  number  seven,  whence  proceeds 
the  division  of  the  week,  dates  to  the  remotest  an- 
tiquit}'  among  the  Chaldaeo-Babylonians.^ 

Schrader  and  other  Assyriologists*  go  further  and 
find  the  name  "shabbatu"  applied  to  the  seventh, 
fourteenth,  nineteenth,  twenty-first  and  twenty- 
eighth  days,  accompanied  with  several  special  prohi- 
bitions ;  with  the  additional  statement  that  the  word 
is  explained  as ' '  the  day  of  the  rest  of  the  heart. '  '^  As 
these  particular  points  have  been  questioned,  and  as 
some  unsolved  difficulties  attend  them,  it  is  not  nec- 

1  Schrader,  p.  21. 

2  Davis,  p.  31. 

3  Lenormant,  p.  249. 

4  Sajce,  Lenormant,  Boscawen. 

5  See  note  xxvi.,  Appendix. 


264  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

essary  to  insist  upon  them.  The  main  fact  of  the 
peculiarity  and  sacredness  of  the  number  seven, 
and  that  of  the  seven-day  measure  of  time  as  "an 
old  Babylonish  institution,"  as  Schrader  puts  it,  is 
well  established.  The  fact  appears  in  the  Chaldean 
story  of  the  flood :  on  the  seventh  day  the  storm 
and  the  flood  ceased ;  on  the  next  seventh  day  the 
dove  was  sent  out ;  and  on  the  altar  were  placed 
jars  by  sevens. 

4.  The  wide  diffusion  of  the  week  division  and 
the  prominence  of  the  number  seven  should  not  pass 
unmentioned,  as  pointing  to  a  common  and  there- 
fore remote  origin.  Here,  however,  there  is  a 
difficulty  in  getting  trustv/orthy  statements.  Some 
citations  that  were  formerly  made,  as  from  Hesiod 
and  Homer,  must  be  abandoned.  One  of  the 
latest  and  most  elaborate  investigations  is  that  of 
Louis  Thomas.  He  finds  evidence  of  such  a  divi- 
sion of  the  week  not  only  among  the  early  Chal- 
deans, but  among  the  Arabs  before  Mohammed, 
the  ancient  Peruvians,  the  negroes  of  West  Africa, 
and  perhaps  the  Chinese.  In  ancient  Egypt  he 
finds  a  religious  respect  for  the  "septenaire"  before 
the  institution  of  the  decade,  and  as  a  popular  and 
sacerdotal  division  of  the  week  ;  among  the  Persians 
a  double  week,  exact  or  approximate,  related  to  the 
six  creation  acts ;  and  among  the  early  Greeks  the 
great  importance  of  the  "septenaire."  He  also 
traces  less  definite  (and  of  more  uncertain  date)  in- 
dications of  the  week  division,  or  of  the  peculiar 
value  of  the  number  seven,  still  more  widely  dif- 


THE  SABBATH  265 

fused/  These  things  join  their  force  with  the  others 
in  pointing  to  a  very  ancient  origin  of  the  seven- 
day  division,  and  also  to  a  special  importance  at- 
tached to  seven.  It  may  also  be  fairly  said  that  the 
appointment  would  far  more  easily  account  for  the 
institution  than  the  common  explanation  that  it 
arises  from  observing  the  changing  of  the  moon,  or 
from  the  process  of  naming  days  after  five  selected 
planets  together  with  the  sun  and  moon.  This  last 
mentioned  grouping  is  so  arbitrary  that  it  must  have 
come  from  some  other  necessity  or  motive  behind 
it ;  while  not  only  do  the  changes  of  the  moon  not 
mark  any  distinct  divisions,  unless  it  be  the  new 
moon,  half  moon  and  full  moon  (three  in  all),  but 
the  complete  lunation,  that  is,  the  period  during 
Vv^hich  the  moon  returns  to  the  same  place  relative 
to  the  beholder,  does  not  divide  into  four  equal 
parts,  but  much  more  nearly  into  three  divisions  of 
ten  days  or  six  of  five  days  each,  as  the  late  Rich- 
ard A.  Proctor  has  truly  remarked.^  And  Lenor- 
mant  has  not  hesitated  to  say  that  not  only  does  the 
week  date  from  the  remotest  antiquity,  but  "it  is 
greatly  anterior  to  the  application  of  the  hebdoma- 
dal conception  to  the  group  of  five  planets  with  the 
addition  of  the  sun  and  moon."^  As  to  the  great 
antiquity  of  the  week,  and  the  peculiar  prominence 
of  the  number  seven,  there  can  be  no  question. 
Such  are  some  of  the  ascertainable  facts  scattered 

6  Le  Jour  du  Seigneur,  Paris,  1892.     See  note    xxxi.   Appendix. 

7  Mr.  Proctor,  after  arguing,  in  the  usual  mode,  for  the  derivation  of  the 
week  from  the  moon's  motions,  adds  in  a  note,  "More  careful  study  of  the 
moon's  motions  suggests  six  periods  of  five  days  rather  than  four  of  seven." 
It  requires  no  "careful  study,"  being  an  obvious  fact.  A  complete  lunation 
is  29  days,  12  hours,  44  minutes  and  a  seconds,  very  nearly  thirty  days. 

8  Lenormant,  p.  249. 


266  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

through  the  pre-historic  past — all  which  the  nature 
of  the  case  admits — which  go  to  confirm  the  state- 
ment that  the  seventh  day  arrangement  belongs  to 
the  earliest  history  of  the  race.  Nor  is  it  irrele- 
vant to  point  to  the  now  well  known  fact  that  obvious- 
ly "the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man, "ministering  so 
unquestionably  to  the  highest  human  welfare  that 
it  was  fully  worthy  to  have  come  by  special  appoint- 
ment of  his  Maker.  For  it  is  well  established  that 
the  proper  observance  of  one  day  in  seven  as  a 
day  of  rest,  and  sacred  rest,  is  conducive  to  human 
well-being  in  all  these  respects:  (i)  Physicall}' 
and  intellectually  ;  men  can  in  the  long  run  do  more 
of  both  these  kinds  of  work,  and  do  it  better,  in  six 
days  than  in  seven ;  (2)  socially  and  politically,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  many  of  the  ablest  men 
that  the  world  has  seen,  men  of  all  kinds  of  pur- 
suits, and  of  the  most  diverse  views  in  other  re- 
spects ;  (3)  morally  and  spiritually,  by  the  experi- 
ence and  testimony  of  the  great  company  of  the  best 
men;  and  (4)  philanthropically,  by  its  indisputable 
relation  to  the  origin  and  maintenance  of  the  world- 
wide charities. 

Now,  as  matter  of  historical  fact,  this  benign  insti- 
tution was  established  before  practical  experience 
had  given  the  knowledge  of  its  benign  influence ; 
for  it  has  proved  itself  only  by  long  usage,  and 
many  of  its  influences  have  been  clearly  discerned 
only  in  quite  recent  times.  And  while  these  bene- 
fits do  not  directly  prove  its  divine  appointment, 
they  prove  its  pre-eminent^/?/^55  to  have  proceeded 


THE  SABBA  TH  267 

directly  from  God ;  and  they  leave  no  other  equally 
plausible  mode  of  accounting  for  its  origin.  For 
the  supposition  that  such  ages  of  semi-barbarism  as 
the  school  of  Kuenen  and  Wellhausen  ascribe  to  the 
early  history  of  Israel,  aided  even  by  the  later  Jew- 
ish scribes  as  we  know  of  them,  devised  an  institu- 
tion for  mankind  beyond  the  conception  of  Confu- 
cius or  Gautama,  or  Socrates,  Plato  or  Aristotle, 
is  too  incredible  to  be  urged.  This  aspect  of  the 
case  adds  to  the  cumulative  force  of  the  other  con- 
siderations to  make  it  probable,  if  not  provable,  that 
the  institution  came  from  God  in  early  times.  And 
the  narrative  that  presents  such  an  institution  to  the 
world  as  coming  from  the  God  who  made  the  world, 
needs  no  apology. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    HISTORIC    BASIS 

We  have  thus  far  dealt  only  with  the  corrobora- 
tive or  collateral  indications  of  the  authenticity  of 
the  Hexateuch.  We  turn  now  to  the  more  direct 
evidence.  On  account  of  its  special  nature  it  is 
diflkult  to  present  this  in  its  full  force,  or  as  Dr. 
Henry  Hayman  terms  it,  "the  enormous  strength  of 
the  case."  The  attention  is  diverted  by  minor  ques- 
tions from  the  fundamental  considerations.  The 
real  issue,  however,  is  apprehensible  by  all  clear- 
headed men.  The  critics  have  been  obliged  to  con- 
fess in  many  ways  that  it  is  out  of  the  question  to 
determine  the  date  by  matters  of  style  or  phraseol- 
ogy. The  latest  appeal,  it  has  been  well  said,  is  to 
considerations  open  to  all  intelligent  men ;  critics 
speak  of  repetitions,  contradictions,  supposed  late 
historic  allusions  or  implications,  the  alleged  earlier 
non-existence  of  certain  institutions  or  observances, 
the  presence  of  modes  of  thought  which  they  affirm 
must  be  late.  These  are  all  matters  to  be  weighed, 
not  by  profound  erudition,  but  by  clear,  unperverted 
judgment.  They  are  to  be  settled,  not  by  the  testi- 
mony of  experts,  but  by  the  candor  of  the  Christian 
jury.  While  Hebrew  scholarship  is  to  be  held  in 
the  highest  esteem  in  its  place,  the  questions  raised 
and  the  arguments  employed  of  late  rise  far  beyond 


THE  HISTORIC  BASIS  268 

its  range ;  and  the  community  are  not  to  be  per- 
suaded into  the  notion  that  here  lies  the  strength  of 
the  case. 

The  nature  of  the  basis  on  which  ancient  writ- 
ings rest  needs  to  be  distinctly  understood.  We 
cannot  summon  a  living  witness  to  testify  concern- 
ing facts  or  writings  dating  three  thousand  years 
ago.  Nor  would  a  written  claim  of  authorship  at- 
tached to  a  document  necessarily  be  decisive.  It 
could  be  denied  as  easily  as  are  a  long  series  of 
statements  contained  in  the  Hexateuch.  A  string 
of  successive  vouchers  extending  down  to  the  exile 
or  the  Christian  era  could  readily  be  dismissed,  in 
the  words  of  Wellhausen,  as  a  "pious  make-up." 
It  is  easy  enough  to  deny  authorship.  The  noted 
Father  Hardouin,  who  died  in  1729,  maintained 
that  the  plays  of  Terence,  Virgil's  ^neid,  the  Odes 
of  Horace,  and  the  histories  of  Livy  and  Tacitus 
were  forgeries  of  the  monks  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury. Yet  though  he  was  a  man  of  vast  learning, 
and  it  could  be  truly  said  that  we  have  (with  slight 
exceptions)  only  medieval  copies  of  these  classics, 
also  that  they  come  to  us  through  the  monasteries, 
and  that  the  monks  had  plenty  of  leisure  time  to 
write  them,  he  found  no  following.  Difficult  as  it 
would  be  to  formulate  a  case  in  court  for  them,  and 
slender  as  is  the  evidence  in  comparison  with  that 
of  our  sacred  books,  they  are  frankly  accepted  on 
the  basis  of  the  descending  traditions,  in  the  absence 
of  conflicting  claims  or  indications,  together  with  the 
conviction  that  the  monks  were  incapable  of  the 


2?0  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

composition — although  this  last  point  could  not  be 
proved.  But  when  we  turn  our  attention  to  what 
are  called  the  ''Five  Books  of  Moses,"  it  may  be 
fairly  said  that  we  find  all  the  evidence  of  their  sub- 
stantially contemporaneous  origin  and  their  authen- 
ticity which  the  nature  of  the  case  admits. 

1.  Undivided  traditional  testimony  refers  the 
substance  of  these  books  to  the  time  of  Moses.  No 
one  man  has  lived,  but  a  nation  has  lived  an  un- 
paralleled and  unmixed  life  to  bring  down  the  testi- 
mony. And  down  to  the  Christian  Era  they  lived 
in  the  land  to  which  Moses  led  them,  and  in  which 
his  companions  made  their  home.  And  not  only 
there,  but  wherever  they  were  dispersed,  they  in- 
herited and  retained  the  tradition  of  the  Mosaic 
authorship  of  their  institutions  and  their  law,  and 
of  the  record  as  an  authentic  narrative  of  the  facts. 
It  was  never  questioned.^ 

2.  The  admitted  agency  of  Moses  carries  with  it 
the  fundamental  facts  of  the  narrative,  and  the  over- 
whelming probability  of  substantially  contempor- 
aneous documents.  Wellhausen,  a  champion  critic, 
says  that  "from  the  historic  tradition  it  is  certain 
that  Moses  was  the  founder  of  the  Torah,"  although 
he  adds,  "The  legislative  tradition  cannot  tell  what 
were  the  contents  of  his  torah.  "^  Dr.  Driver  more 
generously  admits  that  "it  cannot  be  doubted  that 
Moses  was  the  ultimate  founder  of  both  the  national 
and  religious  life  of  Israel,  and  that  he  provided  his 
people  not  only  with  at  least  the  nucleus  of  a  sys- 

I  See  note  xxvii. 

7,  History  of  Israel,  p.  438. 


TtiE  HISTORIC  BASIS  271 

tern  of  civil  ordinances,  but  also  with  some  system 
of  ceremonial  observances,"  and  "it  is  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  the  teaching  of  Moses  is  preserved 
in  its  least  modified  form  in  Ex.  xx.-xxxiii;"  and 
he  even  supposes  it  not  improbable  that  some  form 
of  priesthood  would  be  established  by  Moses,  would 
become  hereditary,  and  would  inherit  from  their 
founder  some  traditionary  lore  in  matters  of  cere- 
monial observance/  This  is  well  so  far.  But  it 
must  go  farther.  Moses  was  not  only  an  ultimate 
founder,  but  he  was  a  great  founder.  No  man  has 
ever  set  so  deep  and  permanent  a  stamp  on  a  peo- 
ple as  Moses  did.  He  was  the  last  man  to  leave 
things  at  the  loose  ends  which  Wellhausen  inti- 
mates, or  even  in  the  crude  form  which  Driver  sug- 
gests. The  stamp  he  made  proves  that  he  was  not. 
Trained  in  Egypt,  the  habit  of  writing  was  ingrained 
into  him.  He  had  the  time  of  forty  years  to  con- 
sider and  write.  He  was  founding  and  forming  a 
lasting  nation,  with  lasting  institutions.  For  forty 
years  he  had  found  that  nation  as  fickle  and  ungov- 
ernable as  the  wind.  The  supposition  that  such  a 
man,  under  such  circumstances,  with  urgent  motives 
and  aims,  left  his  labor  of  forty  years  to  be  blown 
to  the  winds  without  written  records  and  documents, 
is  so  improbable  as  to  be  incredible. 

3.  These  books  come  to  us  as  authentic  docu- 
m.ents  through  the  proper  channel.  They  come  in 
the  custody  of  the  nation  whose  destiny  has  been 
bound  up  with  them.     "The  rule  of  the  municipal 

3  Introduction,  pp.  144,  145. 


272  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

law  on  this  subject,"  says  Professor  Greenleaf  of 
the  Cambridge  Law  School,  "is  familiar,  and  ap- 
plies with  equal  force  to  ancient  writings  whether 
documentary  or  otherwise.  The  first  inquiry  when 
an  ancient  document  is  offered  in  court  is  whether 
it  comes  from  the  proper  depository;  that  is, 
whether  it  is  found  in  the  place  where,  and  under 
the  care  of  the  persons  with  whom,  such  writings 
might  naturally  and  reasonably  be  expected  to  be 
found;  for  it  is  this  custody  which  gives  authen- 
ticity to  documents  found  within  it."^  Coming  thus, 
and  bearing  no  evident  marks  of  forgery,  they  are 
admitted  in  evidence  and  regarded  as  genuine. 
They  stand  good  unless  the  objector  is  able  suc- 
cessfully to  impeach  them.  He  proceeds — and 
though  having  in  mind  directly  the  New  Testa- 
ment Scriptures,  his  words  apply  equally  well  to 
the  Pentateuch — "This  is  precisely  the  case  with 
the  Sacred  Writings.  .  .  .  They  come  to  us  and 
challenge  our  reception  of  them  as  genuine  writings, 
precisely  as  Domesday  Book,  the  Ancient  Statutes 
of  Wales,  or  any  of  the  ancient  documents  which 
have  been  recently  published  under  the  British 
Record  Commission,  are  received."  So  have  the 
documents  of  the  Pentateuch  (or  copies  of  them) 
come  down  to  us,  not  gathered  from  some  heap  of 
waste  manuscripts,  nor  from  a  palimpsest,  nor  from 
a  sarcophagus,  nor  from  some  long  buried  and  for- 
gotten eastern  ruin,  but  handed  down  through  suc- 
cessive  generations  of  living  men,  so  reverentially 

4  Greenleaf  s  Testimony  of  the  Evangelists,  pp.  26,  27. 
V        \         .        . 


THE  HISTORIC  BASIS  273 

and  universally  that  the  apostle  James  could  say  to 
the  assembled  council  of  apostles  and  elders  at  Jeru- 
salem, "Moses  of  old  time  hath  in  every  city  them 
that  preach  him,  being  read  in  the  synagogue  every 
sabbath  day."  Not  only  so,  but  the  hated  and  hos- 
tile Samaritans  had  also  their  copies  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, of  undetermined  antiquity,  but  written  in 
characters  that  antedate  the  exile,  and  still  preserved 
in  the  same  ancient  Hebrew  or  Phenician  characters 
in  the  Samaritan  synagogue  at  Nablous.  What 
more  could  be  asked  in  the  matter  of  custody  ?  And 
what  is  there  in  the  history  of  ancient  literature 
that  matches  it  ? 

4.  A  series  of  references  and  citations  running 
through  the  remaining  books  of  the  Old  Testament 
confirm  the  statements  and  show  the  priority  and 
antiquity  of  the  Pentateuch.  These  references  in- 
clude the  principal  facts,  the  teachings,  sentiments 
and  phraseology  of  all  the  five,  and  in  the  instances 
in  which  origin  is  indicated,  refer  it  to  "Moses." 
These  references  are  admirably  exhibited  by  Pro- 
fessor Stanley  Leathes  in  his  treatise  on  ''The 
Law  in  the  Prophets"  (1891).  They  occupy  (with 
some  few  comments)  a  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
pages,  and  cannot  be  even  epitomized  here.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  he  quotes  from  seventeen  prophetical 
books,  and  finds  not  far  from  240  such  allusions  or 
distinct  implications  in  Isaiah,  more  than  200  in 
Jeremiah,  eighteen  in  Lamentations,  more  than 
eighty  in  Hosea,  more  than  one  hundred  and  eighty 
in  Ezekiel,  sixteen  in  Daniel,  nearly  thirty  in  Joel, 


274  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

more  than  fifty  in  Amos,  four  in  Obadiah,  eight  in 
Jonah,  some  forty-two  in  Micah,  ten  or  more  in 
Nahum,  fourteen  or  more  in  Habakkuk,  more  than 
twenty  in  Zephaniah,  seven  in  Haggai,  over  thirty 
in  Zechariah,  fifteen  in  Malachi.  Should  some  of 
these  references  be  questioned,  a  very  large  part  of 
them  are  unquestionable,  many  of  them  being  exact 
reproductions,  and,  in  some  instances,  of  -words 
found  only  in  the  Pentateuch.  They  are  from  all 
the  five  books  and  from  all  the  supposed  writers  of 
the  critics,  apparently  including  P.  And  as  in 
the  book  of  Joshua  (not  cited  by  Leathes)  reference 
is  made  to  "the  book  of  the  law"  and  "the  com- 
mandment and  the  law  which  Moses  the  servant  of 
the  Lord  charged  you,"  so  in  Malachi,  the  last  of 
the  prophets,  we  read,  "Remember  ye  the  law  of 
Moses  my  servant,  which  I  commanded  unto  him 
in  Horeb  for  all  Israel, even  statutes  and  judgments" 
(R.  V.)  Such  was  the  continued  endorsement  by 
the  later  writers  of  the  Old  Testament.  Inasmuch 
as  modern  criticism  has  disparaged  the  value  of 
many  of  these  writers  on  account  of  their  alleged 
lateness,  and  taken  their  stand  upon  the  two  proph- 
ets Amos  and  Hosea,  Professor  Robertson  has  ac- 
cepted their  challenge,  and  shown  at  large  not  only 
that  these  reiterate  all  the  main  facts  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, but  that  they  imply  the  existence  of  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  Pentateuch,  of  "statutes"  and  a 
"law"  prohibiting  offenses  specified  in  that  code, 
and  the  fact  or  the  possibility  of  its  being  written 
copiously  at  the   Divine  command,  "ten   thousand 


THE  HISTORIC  BASIS  275 

precepts."^  These  two  prophets  belonged,  the  one 
to  the  southern  kingdom,  and  the  other  to  the 
northern,  as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  eighth  cen- 
tury B.  C. 

The  extent  to  which  the  early  history  is  assumed 
in  the  later  historical  books,  and  the  institutions 
and  law  of  Israel  referred  to  the  great  legislator, 
and  the  mode  in  which  these  allusions  and  state- 
ments are  disposed  of  by  objectors,  are  deferred  for 
the  present.  But  it  may  be  well  here  to  indicate 
the  fullness  of  allusion  in  these  early  and  unques- 
tioned prophets,  Amos  and  Hosea,  to  the  matters 
presented  in  detail  in  the  Pentateuch.  We  have 
not  only  references  to  the  deliverance  from  Egypt, 
the  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  Amorites  (Amos  ii.  9,  10),  but  the  statement 
that  the  bringing  up  of  Israel  from  Egypt  was  the 
selection  of  the  children  of  Israel  from  all  the  fami- 
lies of  the  earth  (iii.  2),  was  the  adoption  of  Israel 
as  a  child  (Hos.  xi.  11),  and  the  manifestation  of 
Jehovah  as  his  God,  who  thus  established  a  claim  to 
an  undivided  loyalty  (xii.  9,  xiii.  4).  God  had 
raised  up  of  their  sons  as  Nazarites  (Am.  ii.  11),  had 
brought  Israel  up  out  of  Egypt  by  a  prophet  and 
preserved  him  by  a  prophet  (Hos.  xii.  13),  had 
made  him  then  "dwell  intents  as  in  the  days  of  the 
solemn  feasts"  (xii.  10).  Both  prophets  assert  the 
existence  of  "a  covenant,"  "a  law  of  Jehovah," 
his  "statutes,"  the  "law  of  God"  which  Israel  had 
"rejected,   forgotten,   transgressed"  (Amos.   ii.   4, 

5  Robertson's  The  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  p.  109,  seq. 


276  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Hos.  iv.  6,  vii.  7,  viii.  i,  12).  These  transgres- 
sions date  as  far  back  as  the  sin  at  Baal  Peor  (Hos. 
ix.  10,  xi.  2),  the  days  of  Gibeah  (x.  9),  and  con- 
tinued through  the  times  of  the  prophets  (x.  9). 
The  people  had  abandoned  Jehovah  for  idols  (iv. 
17,  viii.  4,  xiii.  2),  and  for  criminal  lusts  (iv.  14). 
Hosea  speaks  of  the  feast  days,  new  moons,  sab- 
baths and  solemn  feasts  as  institutions  which  God 
would  in  anger  take  away  (ii.  11)  ;  and  refers  (v.  10) 
to  the  law  of  Deuteronomy  (xix.  14,  xxix.  17)  in 
regard  to  the  removal  of  the  landmark ;  and  again 
(iv.  10),  to  them  "that  strive  with  the  priest" 
(Deut.  xvii.  12).  In  denouncing  the  sins  of  his  con- 
temporaries, Amos  apparently  makes  allusion,  in 
ii.  7,  to  what  is  found  in  Leviticus  xvi.  15,  and  in 
ii.  8  to  Ex.  xxii.  25,  and  in  ii.  11,  12  to  Num.  vi. 
2  and  onward.  He  recognizes  (iv.  4,  5)  the  cus- 
tom of  sacrifices,  tithes  and  thank-offerings,  al- 
though rebuking  the  ways  of  the  worshipers,  and 
he  connects  Jehovah's  authoritative  utterances  with 
Jerusalem  and  Zion  (i.  2). 

Thus  these  oldest  of  the  writing  prophets,  instead 
of  showing  ignorance  of  the  ancient  law,  become 
witnesses  to  it  as  then  binding,  though  perverted, 
as  having  come  down  from  the  past,  as  part  of  a 
religious  polity  which  began  with  the  deliverance 
from  Egypt,  but  had  its  roots  in  the  still  older  reve- 
lation to  the  patriarchs.  Hosea  recurs  to  events 
related  in  Genesis:  the  destruction  of  Admah  and 
Zeboim  (xi.  8),  the  birth  of  Jacob  and  his  prevail- 
ing  with   God  (xii.  3,  4),  the   interview  at   Bethel 


THE  HISTORIC  BASIS  m 

(xii.  4),  his  departure  to  Syria,  and  his  serving  for 
a  wife  in  the  keeping  of  sheep  (xii.  12),  and  the 
prophecy  that  Israel  should  be  as  the  sand  of  the 
sea  (i.  10).  Amos  "knows"  (in  Kuenen's  words)  of 
the  overthrow  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  (iv.  11), 
the  high  places  of  Isaac  (vii.  9),  and  how  "Edom 
did  pursue  his  brother"  (i.  11).  They  not  only 
show  their  own  knowledge  of  that  early  history  and 
legislation,  but  make  their  appeal  to  a  similar  knowl- 
edge on  the  part  of  the  people  whom  they  addressed. 
Noticeably  enough,  also,  their  references  and  allu- 
sions are  made  indiscriminately  to  the  several 
portions  of  the  Pentateuch  which  modern  critics 
designate  by  the  letters  P  D  J  E. 

5.  The  structure,  implications  and  allusions  of 
the  legislative  portions  of  the  Pentateuch  indicate 
its  contemporaneousness  with  Moses,  its  recorded 
author.  In  its  structure  it  is  a  mingling  of  perma- 
nent and  transient  statutes — for  the  wilderness,  and 
for  Palestine.  While  it  mainly  provides  for  the 
permanent  national  and  religious  life  of  Israel,  it 
contains  also  many  special  enactments  that  could 
apply  only  to  life  in  the  wilderness  and  on  the 
journey.  Among  these  last  are  the  abundant  and 
minute  directions  concerning  the  camp,  the  march, 
the  structure  and  conveyance  of  the  tabernacle,  and 
the  location  of  the  tribes.  The  directions  concern- 
ing the  tabernacle,  for  example,  as  plans  and  speci- 
fications for  an  actual  structure  are  complete  and 
precise ;  but  as  the  useless  fabrication  of  five  hun- 
dred or  a  thousand  years  later  they  would  be  too 


278  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

intolerably  tedious  even  for  a  Pharisee  or  a  Rabbin. 
Delitzsch  well  said,  "We  hold  it  as  absolutely  in- 
conceivable that  the  Elohistic  portions  concerning 
the  tabernacle  and  its  furniture  should  be  a  historic 
fiction  of  the  post-exilic  age.'"* 

The  intermittent  and  often  fragmentary  char- 
acter of  the  legislation  in  many  parts  of  it,  some- 
times alleged  to  show  the  hand  of  a  compiler,  ac- 
cords much  more  naturally  with  the  circumstances 
of  a  legislator  like  Moses,  burdened  with  cares  and 
legislating  as  circumstances  suggest  and  as  occa- 
sional leisure  is  gained.  It  is  natural  as  legislation, 
but  would  be  poor  as  leisurely  compilation.  Even 
in  Leviticus  the  instructions  for  the  priesthood  and 
the  sacrifices  are  arrested  from  chapter  xvii.  to 
chapter  xxi.  by  a  collection  of  miscellaneous  enact- 
ments. Among  others  a  striking  case  of  interruption 
occurs  in  the  tenth  chapter,  to  relate  the  sin  of  Na- 
dab  and  Abihu,  and  interpose  a  law  against  the  use 
of  strong  drink  during  the  service  of  the  tabernacle. 
Dr.  Hayman  has  called  attention  to  this  method,  or 
rather  want  of  rigid  method,  somewhat  in  detail, 
and  he  proceeds  thus :  "  How  then  can  we  account 
for  such  a  tangled  mass  shot  through  in  every  di- 
rection with  new  departures  ?  Let  the  sacred  books 
tell  their  solemn  tale  in  their  own  simple  way,  and 
the  whole  becomes  perfectly  easy  and  intelligible. 
Legislation  was  either  called  out  by  the  occasion, 
or  was  interrupted  by  it,  and  its  current  diverted. 
Take  the   facts  in   Leviticus  viii.  as  they  are  set 

6  In  his  Preface  to  Curtiss'  Levitical  Priests,  p.  xv. 


THE  HISTORIC  BASIS  279 

down.  There  was  the  actual  consecration  oi  Aaron 
and  his  sons  to  their  offices,  and  out  springs  the 
stream  of  legislation  ad  hoc.    An  ancient  and  credi- 
ble tradition  connects  the  sin  of  Nadab  and  Abihu, 
among  those  sons,  with  over-indulgence  in  wine,  and 
thus  chapter  tenth   contains   at  once  an   injunction 
forbidding  wine  to  priestly  ministrants.     Again  the 
survivors,  staggered  by  the  blow  of  awful  bereave- 
ment, omit  certain  of  their  newly  enjoined  details 
of  duty.    Observe  how  naturally  Aaron  pleads  their 
recent  calamity  as   an   excuse  (x.  16-20),  and    the 
emphatic  prominence  which  through  such  a  setting 
of   facts  these   details   acquire.   So  in  xxiv.  10  we 
find  the  case  of  the  blasphemer  calling  forth  the 
edict  against  blasphemy ;  and  just  so  in  Num.  xv. 
32  the  Sabbath-breaker's  case  draws  out  a  general 
edict  of  capital  punishment.     Thus  legislation  grew 
with  the  wild  growth  of  nature  with  the  incidents  of 

daily  life. 

"Or  take  such  an  incidental  allusion  as  Ex.  xxii. 
21,  xxiii.  9,  where  the  injunction  not  to  oppress  the 
stranger  is  reinforced  by  the  motive,  'for  ye  were 
strangers  in  Egypt. '  Can  we  believe  that  we  have 
here  a  writer  or  legislator  of  the  third  century  B. 
C,  suggesting  as  the  motive  of  an  important  law 
which  was  opposed  to  the  customs  of  his  people,  a 
transaction  of  a  thousand  years  ago,  instead  of  rest- 
ing this  law  on  the  events  of  the  captivity,  which 
still  burned  in  the  memories  and  hearts  of  the  peo- 
.  pie  ?' " _. 

7  Dr.  Hayinan,  N.  Y.  Independent,  Aug.  18,  1892. 


280  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

6.  The  history  of  the  Hexateuch  was  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  interlocked  with  the  later  history  of 
Israel  by  more  or  less  of  monumental  observances, 
and  memorial  facts  and  localities.  The  burial  place 
of  Abraham  has  been  invested  with  immemorial 
tradition,  as  well  as  credibility  of  circumstances. 
The  Bethel  of  Jacob  survives  in  the  Beitin  of  the 
native.  Rachel's  tomb  was  a  landmark  in  the  time 
of  Samuel  and  Saul  (i  Sam.  x.  2),  and  of  Jeremiah 
(Jer.  xxxi.  15-17),  and  has  never  been  questioned 
to  the  present  day.  The  passover  perpetually  com- 
memorated the  last  night  in  Egypt  (Ex.  xiii.  9). 
The  bones  of  Joseph  accompanied  the  journey  from 
Egypt  to  Palestine  (Gen.  1.  25)  and  found  their  me- 
morial resting  place  in  the  parcel  of  ground  (Josh, 
xxiv.  32),  which  the  scholar  still  accepts,  hard  by  the 
well  which  tradition  in  Christ's  time  still  ascribed 
to  Jacob.  From  the  neighboring  Ebal  and  Gerizim 
the  modern  traveler  and  his  companion  can  hear 
each  other  recite  the  commandments  antiphonally,^ 
as  the  tribes  once  pronounced  there  the  blessings 
and  the  curses.  The  ark  of  the  covenant,  constructed 
on  the  journey,  retained  its  sanctity  and  gained 
even  a  superstitious  regard,  till  it  was  brought  to 
Jerusalem  and  deposited  in  the  temple  of  Solomon. 
The  brazen  serpent  which  Moses  had  made  in  the 
wilderness  remained  till  Hezekiah  broke  it  in 
pieces  because  in  those  degenerate  days  it  had  be- 
come the  object  of  idolatrous  offerings  (2  Sam.  xviii. 
4).      And  though,  more  than  half  a  century  later, 

8  Tristranj's  The  Land  of  Israel,  p,  152. 


THE  HISTORIC  BASIS  281 

after  the  gross  apostasy  of  two  idolatrous  reigns, 
corruption  had  gone  so  far  that  "the  book  of  the 
law"  andof  "the  covenant"  had  to  be  re-discovered 
by  the  high  priest  (2  Kings  xxii.),  the  continuity 
with  the  past  was  not  so  dissolved  but  that  the  an- 
cient worship  was  resumed  with  a  remarkable  cele- 
bration of  the  very  feast  appointed  in  Egypt  (2 
Kings  xxiii.  21);  and  through  all  the  misfortunes 
of  the  captivity,  and  the  vicissitudes  and  desolations 
of  protracted  wars  and  oppressions,  their  institutions 
survived  and  maintained  their  coherence  till  the 
final  overthrow  and  dispersion  of  the  nation,  accord- 
ing to  the  prophecy. 

In  view  of  all  these  several  indications,  we  may 
well  ask  what  more  or  better  evidence  could  be 
furnished  of  the  historic  quality  of  the  record,  and 
therefore  of  its  substantial  contemporaneousness 
with  the  time  of  Moses. 

7.  The  substantial  contemporaneousness  of  the 
records  with  the  events  recorded  in  the  last  five 
books  of  the  Hexateuch  is  attested  directly  by  the 
books  themselves.  Of  Joshua  we  read  that  he 
wrote  certain  "words  in  the  book  of  the  law  of 
God"  (Josh.  xxiv.  26).  In  the  Pentateuch  we 
read  again  and  again  of  the  act  of  writing,  as  in 
Deut.  vi.  9,  xi.  20,  xxiv.  i,  xxvii.  3,  xxxi.  19.  The 
workmen  who  made  the  garments  of  the  priest 
Aaron,  adorned  with  a  plate  of  gold,  "wrote  upon 
it  a  writing"  (Ex.  xxxix.  30).  Moses  is  three  times 
directed  to  write  (Ex.  xxxiv.  27;  Num.  xvii.  2,  3; 
Ex.  xvii.  14).     In  the  last  instance  it  was  to  write 


S8d  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCM 

an  account  "for  a  memorial  in  a  book."  Three 
times  it  is  definitely  stated  that  he  did  write  (Ex. 
xxiv.  4,  Num.  xxxiii.  2,  Deut.  xxxi.  9-22).  "He 
made,"  says  Professor  Leathes,  "special  provision 
for  the  preservation  and  protection  of  those  records 
in  which  he  was  himself  concerned,  Deut.  xxxi.  9 ; 
and  I  do  not  know  on  what  principle  of  sound  criti- 
cism we  are  to  set  aside  the  statement  that  he  did 
so." 

We  do  not  maintain,  as  has  been  already  said,  that 
Moses  in  person  did  all  the  writing  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, nor  that  the  writings  have  not  undergone  re- 
vision more  or  less,  on  which  something  will  be 
said  later.  We  are  also  aware  of  the  methods  by 
which  the  testimony  of  the  narrative  is  disparaged. 
But  the  narrative  itself  presents  the  following  re- 
sults :  (i)  Moses  is  declared  to  have  been  a  writer 
of  some  things  contained  in  the  books ;  (2)  no  other 
writer  is  named  or  hinted  at  in  connection  with  the 
subject  matter;  (3)  the  supposed  writers  J  E  D  P 
and  others  are  fictitious,  wholly  unknown  person- 
ages, X,  Y,  Z,  etc.,  if  we  may  not  call  them  straw 
men ;  (4)  there  is  no  knowledge  or  hint  of  any  such 
writers;  (5)  there  is  no  plausible  identification  of 
them  with  any  known  actual  personage ;  (6)  there 
is  no  showing  of  any  person  or  persons,  at  the  times 
supposed,  capable  of  the  work ;  (7)  and  there  seems 
to  be  no  limit  to  their  production,  from  the  eight  of 
the  "polychrome  edition"  of  Genesis  up  to  the 
seventeen  or  more  makers  of  the  Pentateuch  re- 
quired by  Cornill.^ 

6  See  note  xxix. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  LITERARY  PROBLEM 

The  Pentateuch  presents  certain  literary  phe- 
nomena that  have  caused  a  vast  amount  of  acute 
discussion.  The  difficuhy  of  the  problem  arises 
from  our  ignorance  of  the  history  of  the  Hebrew 
language.  There  are  no  standards  with  which  to 
compare  it,  or  by  which  to  test  it.  The  Moabite 
inscription  is  too  limited  in  its  extent  and  its  theme 
for  the  purpose  of  comparison ;  but  it  shows  that 
about  the  year  900  B.  C.  there  was  spoken  in 
Moab  a  tongue,  which,  with  some  grammatical  and 
linguistic  peculiarities,  was  substantially  identical 
with  the  Hebrew.  An  occasional  Hebrew  word 
incorporated  into  the  Tell  Amarna  letters  also  lends 
support  to  the  common  opinion  that  Hebrew  was 
the  vernacular  of  Palestine  before  the  conquest. 

It  is  to  be  clearly  understood  that  the  date,  rela- 
tive or  absolute,  of  no  part  of  the  Pentateuch  can 
be  determined  by  the  language  and  style.  The 
proof  of  this  fact  is  (besides  various  somewhat  dir 
rect  admissions)  twofold :  First,  as  well  stated  by 
Professor  Robertson,  "what  used  to  be  regarded  as 
the  earliest  of  the  large  components  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, is  now,  by  the  prevailing  school,  made  the 
latest,  and  the  linguistic  features  have  not  been  con- 
sidered a  bar  to  either  view";  and  second,  the  fact 


284  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

that  the  main,  if  not  exclusive,  arguments,  of  the 
modern  critics  turn  on  what  they  term,  somewhat 
loosely,  historical  considerations,  or  marks  of  de- 
velopment in  the  institutions  and  modes  of  thought. 
The  diverse  and  changing  views  concerning  the 
age  of  several  portions  of  the  Pentateuch  have 
tended  probably  to  too  great  an  undervaluing  of 
the  difference  between  the  earlier  and  the  later  He- 
brew, and  too  great  disinclination  to  recognize 
archaisms. 

It  should  also  be  understood  that  literary  phenom- 
ena, more  or  less  perplexing,  are  what  might  rea- 
sonably be  expected  in  a  book  having  the  history 
ascribed  to  it  by  the  long  established  view — phenom- 
ena most  naturally  explained  by  that  view,  as  we 
have  presented  it.  From  the  exodus  to  the  Chris- 
tian era,  as  now  more  commonly  reckoned,  it  was 
thirteen  hundred  (13 14)  years;  more  than  eight 
hundred  to  the  time  of  "Ezra  the  scribe,''  ''the 
ready  scribe  in  the  law  of  Moses  which  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel  had  given."  But  there  is  reason  to 
recognize  the  existence  of  yet  other  and  older  ac- 
counts incorporated  in  these  books.  In  Numbers 
xxi.  14  mention  is  made  of  the  "book  of  the  wars 
of  the  Lord,"  and  in  Joshua  x.  13  of  "the  book  of 
Jashar"  (or  The  Upright).  We  have  also  seen 
marked  indications  that  such  narratives  as  the  four- 
teenth chapter  of  Genesis,  the  account  of  the  flood, 
and  the  minute  statements  of  the  times  of  Joseph 
have  come  down  from  those  very  times.  So  we 
may  reasonably  suppose  in  regard  to  the  genealo- 


THE  LITERARY  PROBLEM  285 

gies;  and  the  phrase,  ''these  are  the  generations," 
occurring  ten  times,  seems  (as  suggested  by  Lord 
Arthur  Hervey)  to  mark  "the  existence  of  separate 
histories  from  which  the  book  of  Genesis  was  com- 
piled.'" 

From  this  point  of  view  the  literary  phenomena 
of  the  Pentateuch  are,  both  in  their  variety  and  in 
the  perplexity  they  cause,  such  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, and  less  rather  than  greater  in  amount. 
Look  at  the  history  of  the  English  Bible.  The 
Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the  gospels,  dating  about 
the  year  995,  is  to  the  modern  English  reader  an 
absolutely  sealed  book ;  he  cannot  read  a  word  of 
it,  unless  it  be  "and,"  nor  always  even  that.  Wy- 
cliffe's  version,  completed  five  hundred  years  ago 
(1384),  can  be  partly  followed  by  an  intelligent 
reader,  but  is  often  unintelligible  without  the  aid  of 
a  later  text.  Tyndale's  translation  (of  1526)  pre- 
sents peculiarities  of  words  and  idioms,  not  very 
great,  but  the  spelling  is  so  diverse  from  the  pres- 
ent mode  that  very  many  of  the  words  would  not  be 
recognized  except  from  their  connection ;  in  some 
verses  more  than  half  the  words  have  an  obsolete 
orthography.  In  less  than  a  century  King  James's 
version  followed,  with  many  changes ;  and  now  in 
our  own  day  comes  the  Revised  Version,  which, 
many  sa}',  ought  also  to  be  revised. 

Such  are  the  facts  that  confront  us  in  regard  to 
the  English  Bible.      Is  it  not  inevitable  that  similar 

I  So,  substantially,  Ellicott,  Leathes,  Delitzsch,  and  in  part  Dr.  Green 
(The  Unity  of  Genesis,  p,  124).  Delitzsch  is  cited  by  Prof.  Bissell  (Genesis 
in  Colors,  p.  viii.,  note). 


286  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

changes,  more  or  less,  should  have  been  made  in 
the  form  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  Bible,  to  make  it 
intelligible  to  the  Jew  of  Ezra's  time?  Naturally 
they  might  not  have  been  so  great — unless  in  case 
of  the  most  ancient  accounts  in  Genesis,  which  ver}^ 
probably  may  have  been  in  a  language  as  different 
from  the  late  Hebrew  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  from  the 
modern  English.  The  changes  from  the  time  of 
Moses  to  that  of  Ezra  would  naturally  have  been 
comparatively  less  than  in  our  own  history,  because 
the  people  were,  and  were  kept,  so  homogeneous 
and  comparatively  secluded  from  foreign  contact, 
because  they  occupied  so  limited  an  area,  and  be- 
cause they  were  brought  and  held  in  so  close  con- 
tact with  each  other  by  their  institutions  and  festi- 
vals. But  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  and  in  the  natural 
course  of  things,  some  revision  would  be  inevitable. 
And  we  have  evidence  of  some  such  process.  Such 
are  the  direct  explanations  in  the  text,  giving  mod- 
ern names  for  obsolete  ones,  as  in  the  fourteenth  of 
Genesis,  of  Bela,  En-mishpat,  the  vale  of  Siddim, 
and  elsev/here  of  other  places,  as  Hebron.  Various 
explanator}^  notes,  such  as  that  in  Ex.  xvi.  36, 
showing  the  size  of  the  homer,  and  that  in  Deut. 
i.  2,  giving  the  distance  from  Horeb  to  Kadesh- 
barnea,  and  others,  have  long  been  recognized  as 
the  work  of  a  later  hand.  So,  of  course,  the  ac- 
count of  the  death  of  Moses.  There  are  also  the 
marginal  notes  suggesting  corrections  of  the  text, 
attributed  in  a  general  way  to  the  Massoretes — of 
which  the  ultimate  origin  is  not  known.      If  they 


THE  LITERARY  PROBLEM  287 

date  no  further  back  than  that  body  of  men,  placed 
as  they  are  in  the  margin  without  a  change  of  text, 
these  suggestions,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
counting  of  the  words  in  the  several  books,  show 
the  reverence  with  which  these  books  were  regarded 
in  their  day,  a  reverence  so  great  that  no  unauthor- 
ized person,  however  learned,  was  permitted  to  deal 
directly  with  the  text.  The  variations  of  the  Sep- 
tuacfint  and  of  the  Samaritan  from  the  Hebrew  as 
we  have  it,  are  in  conformity  with  the  suggestion 
of  a  revision. 

Some  process  of  revision   or  modernizing  of  the 
Pentateuch  may  be  safely  assumed  as  indisputable. 
When  or  by  whom,  we   have   neither  the   certain 
knowledge  nor  the   obligation   to  say.     But  it  was 
clearly  before  the  day  of  the  Massoretes  or  of  those 
whom  they  represented ;  and  by  men  who  had  an 
authority    which    the    Massoretes    did    not    claim. 
Strong  indications,  however,  point  to  the  time  and 
agency  of  Ezra,  the  famous  scribe  and  priest.     Ac- 
cording to  the  account  of  him  in  the  Scriptures,  he 
was  a  learned  and  pious  man,  clothed  with   official 
and  priestly  authority,  and  a  man  of  zeal  and  activ- 
ity.     He  is  represented  as  publicly  reading  and,  in 
connection  with  his  companions,    interpreting  the 
law  to  the  people.      Here  then  was  an  epoch,  an 
emergency,  and  a  man  for  the  emergency.     Later 
Jewish  tradition,  as  found  in  the  Talmud,  ascribes 
to  him  some   such   agency,  making   him  a  second 
Moses.      Notwithstanding  the  fabulous  accretions 
which  the  tradition  throws  around    Ezra  and  the 


2te  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Great  Synagogue,  Ewald  "cannot  imagine  that  it 
is  all  a  pure  invention,"'^  and  Westcott  maintains 
that  the  tradition  which  points  to  Ezra  and  the 
Great  Assembly  as  "having  revised  and  closed  the 
collection  of  sacred  books  is  supported  by  strong 
internal  probability.'"  Lord  Arthur  Hervey  holds 
that  the  statements  of  the  sacred  narrative  "give 
the  utmost  probability  to  the  account  which  attrib- 
utes to  him  a  corrected  edition  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  the  circulation  of  such  copies."*  Even  Dr. 
Driver  recognizes  that  "Ezra  was  in  some  way 
noted  for  his  services  in  connection  with  the  law," 
and  that  "it  would  not  be  inconsistent  with  the  terms 
in  which  he  is  spoken  of  in  the  Old  Testament  to 
suppose  that  the  final  redaction  and  completion  of 
the  Priest's  Code,  or  even  of  the  Pentateuch  gen- 
erally, was  his  work."^  Thus,  although  in  the  ob- 
scurity of  the  past  we  are  not  bound  to  suggest  a 
time  or  an  agent  for  the  revision  which  must  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  events  have  taken  place,  we  are 
able  to  point  with  much  probability  to  both  the  time 
and  the  man.  For  the  preparation  of  the  older  nar- 
ratives of  Genesis,  even  of  such  as  may  have  come 
down  through  the  line  of  Abraham  in  Babylonia,  we 
find  an  adequate  agency  in  the  great  man  who  was 
"learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,"  and 
who  was  born  in  Egypt,  probably  not  less  than  half 
a  century   after  so   many   letters   from  all  parts  of 

2  History  of  Israel,  v.,  p.  169. 

3  The  Bible  in  the  Church.  Appendix  A. 

4  Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  2nd  ed.,  ii.,  p.  1042. 

5  Introduction,  p.  xxviii. 


THE  LITERARY  PROBLEM  289 

Palestine   were   written    to    Amenophis,    king  of 
Egypt,  all  in  the  Babylonian  language  and  text. 

This  historic  experience  of  the  Pentateuch  is  ad- 
mirably illustrated  on  a  smaller  scale  and  within  a 
vastly  shorter  limit  of  time,  in  the  case  of  so  modern 
a  work  as  Bradford's  History  of  Plymouth  Colony, 
only  two  and  a  half  centuries  old.  It  offers  very 
many  of  the  same  phenomena.  The  author's  man- 
uscript was  terminated  in  1646.  It  was  known  and 
quoted  till  1767,  after  which  it  disappeared.  The 
last  definite  knowledge  of  the  manuscript  itself  was 
the  fact  that  in  1658  it  was  deposited  in  the  tower 
of  the  Old  South  Church  in  Boston,  Mass.  After 
nearly  two  centuries  (in  1855)  it  was  found  in  the 
Fulham  Library,  near  London,  England,  and  was 
fully  identified  by  various  indications,  including  the 
known  handwriting  of  Bradford.  It  was  published 
complete  in  1856,  edited  by  Charles  Deane,  Esq., 
of  Boston.  This  edition  presents  many  of  the  pre- 
cise phenomena  of  revision  found  in  our  Pentateuch. 
Among  the  minor  textual  changes  reminding  us  of 
the  Massoretes,  are  such  as  these  :  An  abandonment 
of  the  old  interchange  (in  the  manuscript)  of  "u" 
for  "v";  a  retention  of  the  antiquated  spelling,  ex- 
cept where  corrected  in  the  original,  e.  g.,  "shuch," 
in  which  word  the  pen  had  been  drawn  through  the 
second  letter ;  a  conformity  of  punctuation  and  cap- 
itals to  modern  usage ;  an  omission  of  italics  in 
many  (not  all)  underscored  passages ;  the  incorpo- 
ration into  the  direct  text  of  five  or  six  considerable 
paragraphs  not  so  placed  by  Bradford,  but  written 


2d0  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

on  the  opposite  or  reverse  pages.  Of  these  slighter 
changes  no  notice  is  given  in  detail,  although  the 
Massoretes  were  careful  to  put  their  verbal  correc- 
tions in  the  margin.  But  more  significant  and  even 
more  akin  to  the  case  in  question  are  the  follow- 
ing features  of  the  book  as  we  now  have  it  : 

1.  Important  subsequent  modifications  by  the 
author  himself,  in  his  own  handwriting ;  omissions 
of  the  text  supplied  on  the  blank  or  reverse  pages ; 
a  few  afterthoughts  introduced  into  the  text  by  a 
caret ;  occasional  notes  in  the  margin,  and  one  very 
noteworthy,  written  (and  dated)  by  him  about y^r/y 
years  after  the  passage  to  which  it  is  appended,  as 
"a  late  observation";  and  at  the  end  of  the  manu- 
script a  full  list  of  the  families  that  came  in  the 
Mayflower,  together  with  a  brief  account  of  their 
families  or  "genealogies,"  brought  down  to  the 
year  1650,  four  years  beyond  the  History  of  Plym- 
outh. 

2.  Editorial  corrections  of  the  language  of  the 
manuscript  text.  Thus,  for  the  unintelligible 
*'yothers"  we  have  ye  others;  for  "adventures," 
adventurers,  twice;  for  "governor,"  government; 
for  "things,  "thing;  for  "ye,  "he  ;  for  "with,"  what; 
for  "on,  "one;  for  "contend,  "content ;  for  "receiv- 
ing," obtaining;  for  "be,"  by;  for  "they,"  the; 
for  "sundry,"  sudden;  and  others  like  them,  in 
three  instances  on  other  manuscript  authority,  in 
some  instances  from  the  obvious  necessity  of  "har- 
monizing," so  often  derided  of  late.  In  some  in- 
stances the  note  corrects  the  statement  of  the  text. 


THE  LITER  A  R  Y  PROBLEM  291 

In  a  few  instances  a  note  calls  attention  to  the  cor- 
rection, in  accordance  with  the  modern  custom. 

3.  Appended  notes  in  addition  to  those  of  the 
author,  explanatory  or  expansive.  These  are  (i) 
by  Prince  the  historian,  (2)  by  the  editor,  (a)  on  the 
text,  (b)  on  the  notes  of  Prince.  Among  other 
noteworthy  phenomena  of  this  kind,  just  as  the  last 
verses  of  Deuteronomy  record  the  death  of  Moses, 
so  a  note  of  Prince  on  Bradford's  account  of  the 
families  records  the  death  of  Bradford,  and  a  note 
by  the  editor  corrects  the  date  assigned  by  Prince. 
It  may  be  added  that  at  the  end  of  Bradford's  list 
of  the  families,  closing  with  a  statement  of  the  mem- 
bers still  living  in  1650,  a  later  and  heavier  hand 
has  continued  the  information  to  the  years  1679, 
1690  and  1698,  or  more  than  forty  years  after  Brad- 
ford's death — as  may  be  seen  in  the  London  fac- 
simile edition  of  1896. 

Now  here  we  have  in  circumstances  that  we  can 
prove,  on  a  larger  or  smaller  scale,  all  the  phenom- 
ena encountered  in  the  Pentateuch,  but  with  this 
difference  between  ancient  and  modern  times,  that 
the  "glosses,"  as  they  would  now  be  called,  are 
many  of  them  kept  in  the  margin,  or  mentioned  in 
the  notes  when  introduced  into  the  text  (though  not 
always),  and  that  the  accretions  about  the  original 
text  made  by  the  author  himself  and  his  two  suc- 
cessive revisers  can  usually  be  identified  by  evi- 
dence, whereas  in  the  other  case  the  certain  knowl- 
edge is  lost  in  the  lapse  of  ages.  It  may  be  added 
that  in  Bradford's  work  there  is  a  very  perceptible 


292  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

diversity  of  style  and  phraseology  and  also  of  or- 
thography ;  such  as  leters  and  letters ;  vitails,  vic- 
tialls  and  victualls ;  viage  and  vioage ;  and  in  one 
paragraph  (p.  441)  the  three  forms  captine,  captien 
and  captaine.  Add  to  this  that  whereas  most  of 
his  many  Scripture  quotations  are  from  the  Geneva 
version,  yet  tow^ards  the  close  of  his  narrative  he 
quotes  in  some  instances  from  King  James's  ver- 
sion. All  these  various  facts  show  how  easy  it 
would  be,  but  for  positive  evidence  to  the  contrary, 
for  a  generation  of  acute  German  scholarship  to 
transform  Bradford  into  several  writers,  and  how 
uncertain  is  an  analysis  made  on  the  basis  of  mere 
internal  characteristics,  no  matter  how  numerous 
may  be  its  advocates.  No  intelligent  man  need 
hesitate  in  questioning  its  validity.  So  acute  and 
cautious,  as  well  as  liberal,  a  scholar  as  Professor 
Sanday,  has  not  hesitated  recently  to  say,  "It  re- 
mains to  be  seen  how  much  of  the  current  theories 
will  be  endorsed  twenty  years  hence.  Some  of 
them,  I  feel  sure,  will  have  been  pronounced  im- 
possible."® And  whatever  may  be  the  final  conclu- 
sion as  to  the  composition,  the  question  of  date  is 
entirely  distinct  and  independent,  and  must  be  set- 
tled on  evidence  essentially  historic  and  not  specu- 
lative or  theoretical.  It  can  never  be  determined 
on  the  popular  and  baseless  assumption  as  to  what 
men  were  capable  of  at  a  certain  time,  or  the  as- 
sumption that  all  enlightenment  must  have  been 
but  an  evolution  from  the  forces  inherent  in  a  nation 

6  Sanday's  Inspiration,  p.  119(1893). 


THE  LITERARY  PROBLEM  293 

itself.  Such  postulates,  common  though  they  have 
become,  violate  the  first  principles  of  sound  thought 
and  reasoning. 

It  thus  appears,  both  from  the  well-known  law  of 
literary  modification  made  necessary  by  the  lapse  of 
centuries,  and  from  the  actual  phenomena  of  a  par- 
allel case,  that  the  literary  peculiarities  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch are  explicable  as  simply  an  editorial  revision 
of  very  ancient  documents  belonging  to  the  age  of 
Joshua  and  Moses.  But  whatever  decision  may  be 
reached  in  the  attempt  at  analysis,  let  it  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  abundant  f  roofs  already  given  of  the 
historic  iritthfulness  of  the  narrative  standfast. 

A  simple  explanation  founded  upon  and  accordant 
with  known  facts  precludes  the  necessity  of  refuting 
a  highly  complicated  one,  resting  on  speculation. 
A  detailed  examination  of  all  the  intricacies  of  the 
modern  critical  analysis  would  be  far  beyond  the 
compass  of  this  volume  and  would  require  a  volume 
by  itself.  Dr.  W.  H.  Green  has  devoted  to  the  ref- 
utation of  the  dissection  of  Genesis  alone,  a  work 
of  nearly  six  hundred  pages,  ^  besides  a  more  gen- 
eral discussion  of  the  criticism  of  Pentateuch.^  The 
reader  who  has  the  desire  and  the  patience  to  fol- 
low through  an  elaborate  and  learned  sifting  of  the 
whole  process,  is  referred  to  those  able  works. 
Those  writers  who  somewhat  pretentiously  claim 
the  best  modern  scholarship  for  the  modern  anal- 
ysis have  thus  far  for  the  most  part  found  it  conven- 
ient to  leave  these  and  his  previous  discussions  (in 

7  The  Unity  of  the  Book  of  Genesis  (1895). 

^  The  Higher  Criticism  of  the  Pentateuch  U895)- 


294  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

the  Hebraica)  unnoticed.  The  question  has  been 
asked,  with  some  significance,  how  many  of  those 
who  are  so  alert  to  accept  the  modern  views  and 
decry  the  older,  have  ever  gone  carefully  through 
an  investigation  of  the  arguments,  and  especially 
their  basis.  While,  however,  it  is  impracticable, 
as  well  as  unnecessary  in  the  present  treatise  to 
duplicate  a  process  so  well  performed  in  the  works 
above  mentioned,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  state  briefly 
some  of  the  grave  difficulties  under  which  the  mod- 
ern analysis  labors. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  ANALYSIS 


The  modern  critical  analysis  rejects  the  long  re- 
ceived view  of  the  Pentateuch  as  being  substantially 
one  narrative  subjected  to  the  revisions  made  nec- 
essary by  its  great  antiquity,  and  substitutes  the 
theory  of  a  series  of  writers  extending  through 
many  hundred  years,  and  compiled  by  various  other 
writers  who  in  the  combination  made  such  changes 
as  they  thought  best  in  order  to  fit  them  together. 
It  attempts  to  assign  to  these  several  supposed 
writers  their  separate  portions  of  the  work.  The 
positive  objections  to  this  analysis  are  strong. 

1.  It  is  superfluous.  All  the  phenomena  can  be 
accounted  for  on  the  older  view  of  a  continuous 
narrative  more  or  less  revised  to  meet  the  necessities 
created  by  the  lapse  of  time.  To  reject  a  simple 
and  natural  explanation,  accordant  with  all  availa- 
ble evidence,  for  a  complicated  and  needless  one, 
is  unphilosophical. 

2.  Its  procedures  are  forced,  arbitrary  and  incon- 
sistent. The  original  basis  of  the  division  was  the 
two  names  Jehovah  and  Elohim.  But  it  was  soon 
found  necessary  to  reinforce  this  division  by  alleged 
corresponding  differences  of  phraseology,  and  by 
some  other  things,  presently  to  be  mentioned.  But 
though  a  vast   amount  of   successive   labor   by  the 


295 


298  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

acutest  German  scholars  has  been  expended  in  har- 
monizing these  two  tests,  they  cannot  be  made  to 
tally  without  violent  measures.  Elohim  will  occur 
in  Jehovistic  passages,  and  Jehovah  in  Elohistic. 
We  will  give  but  specimens.  The  methods  of  evad- 
ing the  difficulty  are  various ;  the  redactor  (R)  is  a 
very  convenient  resort.  The  last  alleged  principal 
workman  (P)  is  found  highly  useful.  Sometimes 
the  case  is  quietly  covered  by  ascribing  a  passage 
to  J  E  conjointly ;  sometimes  by  a  rapid  see-saw 
process  between  the  two.  Sometimes  it  requires 
three  or  four  of  these  cabalistic  letters  to  disentangle 
twice  as  many  successive  verses.  Occasionall}'  a 
name  is  forcibly  supplanted  without  a  shadow  of  a 
reason  except  the  emergency,  as,  in  Gen.  xxxi.  50, 
the  Elohim  compels  Kautzsch  at  once  to  summ^on 
E  to  the  rescue  of  J,  while  Dillmann  and  Kautzsch 
and  Socin  assign  the  one  word  to  R,  the  latter 
authority  coolly  remarking  that  it  is  "the  only  pos- 
sibility of  disentangling  the  text."  In  like  manner 
Kautzsch  and  Socin  cut  out  the  one  word  Elohim 
from  a  Jehovistic  connection  in  vii.  9,  and  Kautzsch 
does  not  notice  it.  In  verse  16  of  the  same  chapter 
the  interrupting  phrase,  "Jehovah  shut  him  in,"  is 
transferred  by  both  to  the  Jehovist.  In  chapter 
xvii.  Jehovah  occurs  in  the  first  verse  of  the  con- 
tinuous narrative,  and  Elohim  nine  times  through 
the  rest  of  the  chapter ;  and  Kautzsch  and  Socin 
give  this  one  word  and  its  verb  to  the  redactor,  while 
Kautzsch  relieves  the  case  by  turning  the  whole 
passage  before  and  after  over  to  P.     In  chapter 


THE  ANALYSIS  297 

xxviii.  19-29  Kautzsch  gives  eight  alternate  changes 
from  E  to  J,  back  and  forth.  In  the  successive  ten 
verses  from  xx.  i8  to  xxi.  7  Kautzsch  requires  the 
united  forces  of  E,  R  JP,  P,  EJ,  J,  E,  in  succession 
to  adjust  the  difficulty.  In  chapter  xxvii.  from  a  con- 
tinuous Elohistic  passage  of  forty  verses,  verse  33 
is  singled  out  to  be  ascribed  to  J.  And  while  in 
many  parts  of  the  Pentateuch  the  continuity  and 
homogeneousness  of  the  theme  are  such  as  to  cre- 
ate no  difficulty,  in  numerous  other  parts  the  disin- 
tegrations necessary  to  save  the  theory  are  very  ex- 
traordinary. Besides  numerous  severances  of  single 
verses  such  as  have  been  mentioned,  sometimes  into 
two  or  even  three  parts,  there  are  abundant  instances 
of  dislocations  on  a  larger  scale.  Thus  chapter 
xxxvii.  of  Genesis  is  severed  by  Kautzsch  into 
twenty-two  fragments,  by  Kautzsch  and  Socin  into 
thirty-two — there  being  but  thirty-six  verses  in  all. 
Chapter  xvi.  of  Exodus  is  divided  into  fifteen  frag- 
ments, chapter  xiv.  into  thirteen. 

It  would  be  as  tedious  as  it  is  impracticable  to 
follow  this  process  of  vivisection  through  all  its 
course  in  the  several  books  of  the  Pentateuch  and 
Joshua.  We  had  marked  numerous  specimens,  but 
even  they  would  fail  of  making  an  adequate  exhi- 
bition.^ 

So  grave  are  the  embarrassments  in  this  attempt 
that  the  great  leader,  Kuenen,  finds  it  needful  to 
"utter  a  warning  that  far  too  much  weight  has  often 
been  laid  on  agreement  in  the  use  of  the   Divine 

I  Note  xxvii.,  Appendix. 


298  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

names,"  and  to  lay  down  this  dogmatic  utterance, 
"that  in  the  few  passages  of  their  (Elohistic)  nar- 
ratives where  Yahwe  (Jehovah)  now  stands  we  need 
not  hesitate  to  ascribe  it  to  the  later  manipulation 
or  corruption  of  the  text."  A  confession  if  not  a 
surrender. 

For  a  thorough  criticism  of  the  attempts  to  divide 
up  the  Hexateuch  by  phraseology  and  style,  the 
reader  must  be  referred  to  the  exhaustive  discussion 
by  Dr.  Green,  already  mentioned.  His  examina- 
tion of  Genesis  alone  occupies  several  hundred 
pages,  much  of  it  devoted  to  this  question.  The 
facts  already  adduced  in  regard  to  the  Divine  names 
show  that  after  the  ablest  scholars  of  Germany  have 
spent  years  in  culling  out  the  text,  with  the  most 
arbitrary  excisions  and  dismemberments,  they  have 
failed  to  bring  their  divisions  into  harmony  with 
their  theory  of  the  Divine  names.  They  have  used 
the  largest  liberty  in  sorting  out  their  materials  ;  as- 
signing to  some  one  writer  v/ords  that  occur  but 
two  or  three  times  in  all,  also  words  that  were  nec- 
essarily restricted  to  the  theme  in  hand,  not  seldom 
words  not  peculiar  to  the  given  writer.  They  have 
endeavored  to  confine  the  writer  to  certain  stereo- 
typed modes  of  expression,  not  allowing  him  the 
use  of  diverse  expressions  nearly  but  not  necessarily 
quite  synonymous.  The  graphic  description  of  the 
steady  rising  of  the  waters  of  the  flood  in  two  suc- 
cessive verses  (Gen.  vii.  17,  18)  is  parted  to  aid  in 
making  two  narratives.  Over  the  first  seven  verses 
of  Genesis  xxi.  Gramberg,  Knobel,  Hupfeld,  Noel- 


THE  ANALYSIS  299 

deke,  Dillmann,  Budde,  Ilgen,  Kautzsch  and  Socin, 
Kautzsch,and  Strack  have  expended  their  ingenuity, 
and  among  other  resuhs  the  theory  constrains  the 
majority  to  divide  the  first  verse  between  two 
writers ;  although  it  requires  but  an  ordinary  intel- 
ligence to  see  that  the  two  divided  clauses  simply 
state  the  conjoined  fact  that  Jehovah  visited  Sarah, 
and  in  fulfillment  of  a  previous  promise. 

The  modern  analysis  further  endeavors  to 
strengthen  itself  by  finding  a  continuity  in  the 
alleged  documents.  That  this  is  a  failure  appears 
abundantly  from  two  circumstances :  First,  the 
numerous,  not  to  say  constant  references,  of  one 
supposed  writer  to  things  found  only  in  the  other ; 
and  second,  the  somewhat  constant  resort  of  the 
analysts  to  the  supposed  omissions  of  the  redactor, 
with  the  remark  that  the  writer  in  hand  probably 
had  stated,  sometimes  that  he  "must"  have  stated, 
the  wanting  facts. 

One  more  resort  is  the  allegation  of  parallel  ac- 
counts, sometimes  pronounced  to  be  idle  repetitions, 
sometimes  discrepancies.  Here  the  method  is  two- 
fold :  One  is  to  identify  distinct  accounts,  thus 
finding  both  repetitions  and  contradictions.  An 
instance  in  point  is  that  of  the  two  concealments  by 
Abraham  of  the  relation  between  him  and  his  wife, 
made  perfectly  distinct  in  Genesis,  but  confounded 
by  the  critics.  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  both  contra- 
dictions and  repetitions  may  be  created  by  dividing 
one  account  into  two.  Thus  in  the  flood  narrative, 
as  already  mentioned,  the  rising  of  the  waters  is 


m  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

divided  so  as  to  make  a  repetition  and  a  diversity 
of  style ;  or  a  partition  of  the  whole  account  may 
be  made  to  assign  a  year  and  ten  days  as  the  dura- 
tion of  the  flood,  or  but  one  hundred  and  ten  days. 
Different  phases  of  the  same  transaction,  different 
speeches  by  or  to  the  same  person,  different  deport- 
ment on  separate  occasions,  a  combination  of  motives 
severed  from  each  other,  are  all  urged  in  support 
of  a  division  of  documents.  But  for  a  refutation  of 
these  devices  in  detail,  the  reader  must  be  referred 
to  the  works  already  mentioned. 

Severance  of  authorship  on  the  ground  of  phrase- 
ology is  one  of  the  most  precarious  of  proceedings. 
Professor  Stanley  Leathes  compared  Milton's  three 
short  poems,  L' Allegro,  II  Penseroso  and  Lycidas. 
The  first  of  them  contains  about  450  different  words, 
the  second  578,  the  third  725  ;  but  there  are  only 
about  61  common  to  the  three.  He  found  in  Tenny- 
son's Lotos  Eaters  about  590  words,  in  his  CEnone 
720,  but  only  about  230  in  common.^  Almost  equally 
unsafe  the  somewhat  broader  test  of  style.  Almost 
any  trained  writer  who  has  been  at  work  at  intervals 
for  forty  years  on  different  topics  and  occasions, 
and  in  different  states  of  mind,  will  find  that  he  has 
produced  writings  so  diverse  in  style  and  method 
that  neither  his  friends  nor  even  himself  would 
recognize  all  of  them  for  his  composition  except  for 
positive  evidence.  Who  could  recognize  the  author 
of  the  Ode  on  Immortality  in  the  poem  of  Peter 
Bell,    or  the  author  of  Webster's    Plymouth   and 

2  Cited  in  Edersheim's  Prophecy  and  History  (pp.  283,  284),  from  Professor 
Leathes. 


THE  ANALYSIS  301 

Bunker  Hill  Orations  in  his  letters  to  John  Taylor? 
Similar  diversities  could  be  enumerated  to  any  ex- 
tent. It  would  not  be  a  very  difficult  feat,  with 
the  help  of  a  competent  "redactor,"  as  will  pres- 
ently be  shown,  to  sort  out  the  language  of  many  a 
narrative  or  treatise  into  two  or  perhaps  more. 
Thus  Dr.  Green  shows  the  parables  of  the  Good 
Samaritan  and  the  Prodigal  Son  each  divided  in 
two ;  and  Professor  Mead  the  Epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans in  a  fourfold  division.  About  the  same  time 
the  present  writer  had  amused  himself  with  a  simi- 
lar analysis  of  the  well  authenticated  epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  together  with  an  apparatus  of  notes  and 
references,  to  show  that  while  largely  the  work  of 
Paul,  it  also  showed  marks  of  Luke's  hand,  touches 
by  John,  indications  of  the  author  of  Hebrews,  and 
of  a  final  redactor — all  in  readiness  to  be  printed, 
if  need  be,  in  five  colors;  when  he  learned  that  a 
skillful  German  had  just  done  a  similar  thing  for 
the  epistle  in  good  earnest  and  had  published  to  the 
world  his  profound  lucubrations. 

3.  The  claims  of  the  analysts  are  unwarranted 
and  inadmissible.  The  experience  of  literary  men 
and  the  history  of  literature  are  here  in  open  con- 
flict with  the  pretensions  of  the  critics.  None  of 
these  scholars  now  claims  to  discover  in  the  Penta- 
teuch less  than  four  main  writers  and  a  "redactor," 
while  most  of  them  require  many  more.  This  skill, 
too,  is  asserted  in  investigating  a  foreign  and  dead 
tongue,  with  no  outside  documents  for  comparison, 
and  no  knowledge  of  the  alleged  writers.     Well- 


m  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

known/cicls  go  to  show  that,  in  its  least  pretentious 
form,  its  claim  cannot  be  maintained.  The  cele- 
brated case  of  the  letters  of  Junius  is  emphatically 
in  point.  For  several  years  their  author  was  pour- 
ing forth  his  invectives,  right  and  left.  The  whole 
machinery  of  the  government  and  all  possible  con- 
jectures and  efforts  of  exasperated  enemies  were 
directed  to  the  discovery  of  the  vv^riter.  The  pur- 
suit had  these  advantages,  that  the  letters  were  in 
the  vernacular  of  all  Englishmen,  that  the  charac- 
teristics of  all  supposable  writers  were  definitely 
known,  and  that  the  earnest  attention  of  all  the 
acutest  minds  of  Great  Britain  was  directed  to  the 
discovery.  More  than  a  hundred  volumes  and 
pamphlets  and  a  vast  number  of  essays  in  periodi- 
cals were  published  on  the  question.  The  result 
was  a  scattering  of  opinion  upon  not  less  than  forty- 
two  different  persons,  and  a  failure  for  more  than 
forty  years  to  agree  with  some  unanimity  upon  Sir 
Philip  Francis,  and  then  by  reason  of  certain  exter- 
nal evidence,  which,  though  but  slight,  outweighed 
the  chief  objection  of  the  style,  which  was  considered 
to  be  above  his  ability. 

We  may  take  modern  instances.  Sir  Walter  Be- 
sant  completed  a  novel  left  unfinished  by  a  friend, 
and  has  publicly  stated  that  no  one  has  correctly 
recognized  the  respective  portions  of  the  work — 
although  it  was  a  decision,  not  between  imaginary 
characters,  but  actual  and  known  writers.  The 
same  thing  is  true  of  other  collaborated  works  that 
might  be  enumerated.     For  example:     In  1872  six 


THE  ANALYSIS  30^ 

American  writers,  two  of  them  so  well  known  as 
Mrs.  Stowe  and  Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  pub- 
lished a  joint  production  entitled  "Six  of  One  by 
Half  a  Dozen  of  the  Other."  Yet,  notwithstanding 
the  limited  range  for  conjecture  and  the  known 
qualities  of  several  of  the  writers,  "the  guesses  of 
the  press  were  quite  as  often  wrong  as  right,"  one 
distinguished  literary  journal  declaring  that  in  cer- 
tain chapters  written  by  Mr.  Frederick  B.  Perkins 
the  hand  of  Mrs.  Stowe  was  evident  from  the  be- 
ginning and  it  was  impossible  for  her  to  veil  it.^ 
So,  too,  it  never  could  have  been  known  or  conjec- 
tured that  the  passage  enunciating  the  celebrated 
"Monroe  Doctrine,"  in  the  message  of  President 
James  Monroe,  was  taken  from  the  instructions 
given  by  his  Secretary  of  State,  John  Quincy 
Adams,  to  the  Minister  at  the  British  Court.  Ex- 
ternal evidence  alone  settles  it. 

Mr.  VV.  E.  H.  Lecky,  who,  as  the  author  of  three 
prominent  histories,  should  be  familiar  with  the 
subject  of  documents,  and  who  has  no  predilection 
in  favor  of  the  Scriptures,  wrote  an  article  in  the 
Forum  on  the  question  how  far  it  is  possible  by 
merely  internal  evidence  to  decompose  an  ancient 
document,  resolving  it  into  its  separate  elements,  dis- 
tinguishing its  different  dates  and  its  different  de- 
grees of  credibility,  and  he  expresses  himself  thus  on 
the  present  question : 

"The  reader  is  no  doubt  aware  with  what  a  rare 
skill  this  method  of  inquiry  has  been  pursued  in  the 

3  The  statement  is  made  on  the  authority  of  Rev.  E.  E.  Hale. 


804  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

present  century,  chiefly  by  great  German  and  Dutch 
scholars,  in  dealing  with  the  early  Jewish  writings. 
At  the  same  time,  without  disputing  the  value  of 
their  work  or  the  importance  of  many  of  the  results 
at  which  they  have  arrived,  I  may  be  pardoned  for 
expressing  m}^  belief  that  this  kind  of  investigation 
is  often  pursued  with  an  exaggerated  confidence. 
Plausible  conjecture  is  too  frequently  mistaken  for 
positive  proof.  Undue  significance  is  attached  to 
what  may  be  mere  casual  coincidences,  and  a  mi- 
nuteness of  accuracy  is  professed  in  discriminating 
between  the  different  elements  in  a  narrative  which 
cannot  be  attained  by  mere  internal  evidence.  In 
all  writings,  but  especially  in  an  age  when  criticism 
was  unknown,  there  will  be  repetitions,  contradic- 
tions, inconsistencies  and  diversities  of  style  which 
do  not  necessarily  indicate  different  authorship  or 
dates." 

Well-known  facts  justify  the  statement  that  these 
pretensions  at  the  lowest  point  are  invalid,  and  at 
their  highest  point  they  may  safely  be  called  pre- 
posterous. Nothing  short  of  omniscience  can  dis- 
cern and  sort  out  eighteen  or  twenty  different 
writers  in  one  continuous  narrative. 

4.  The  actual  outcome  from  the  principles  and 
methods  of  the  modern  analysis  discredits  the  sys- 
tem. The  constantly  increasing  extravagance  of 
the  results  attained  shows  how  vague  and  capricious 
are  its  principles,  and  acts  as  a  reductio  ad  ab- 
stirdiim.  It  thus  proves  itself  to  be  a  scheme  and 
not  a  system — a  scheme  in  which  there  is  an  agree- 


THE  ANALYSIS  30S 

ment  on  the  end  to  be  accomplished  and  on  the 
starting  point,  but  the  process  is  largely  the  appli- 
cation of  individual  and  subjective  notions.  The 
whole  sacred  volume  breaks  up  or  breaks  down 
into  comminuted  fragments.  Not  to  speak  of  the 
New  Testament,  the  analysis  is  no  longer  content 
with  even  two  Isaiahs ;  but  under  the  dissecting 
knife  of  Professor  Cheyne  the  first  Isaiah  becomes 
reduced  to  a  small  nucleus,  enveloped  in  three  ac- 
cretions, each  of  them  composite.  The  second  Isaiah, 
who  is  not  Isaiah,  has  five  chapters  allowed  him, 
and  the  remaining  twenty  chapters  consist  of  some 
ten  compositions.  Happy  the  nation  which  could 
produce  such  a  number  of  eloquent  men  and  afford 
to  forget  all  their  names.  The  German  Boehme  has 
distributed  the  little  book  of  Jonah  to  a  Jahvist,  an 
Elohist,  a  Redactor,  and  a  Supplementer,  besides 
minor  insertions  and  glosses  in  every  chapter.  If 
this  is  not  the  "lowest  deep,"  what  is  there  "lower 
still-'? 

But  turning  our  attention  to  the  Pentateuch  alone, 
we  find  a  similar  haste  into  fathomless  depths. 
While  Wellhausen,  in  the  romance  which  he  terms 
the  History  of  Israel,  rides  serenely  over  every  in- 
convenient statement  of  the  Scriptures  that  lies  in 
his  way  as  "unhistorical"  (if  deemed  worthy  of 
notice),  and  Kuenen  in  his  Hexateuch  wrangles 
with  the  text  or  its  statements  or  its  connection  or 
authorship,  not  less  than  a  hundred  and  seventy 
times,*  the   actual  and  increasing  dismemberment 

4  The  author  cited  the  pages  in  his  manuscript,  but  omits  them  here. 


906  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

of  the  Pentateuch  proceeds  on  the  same  method  and 
beyond  the  bounds  of  reason.  Dillmann,  the  ablest 
and  soberest  scholar  among  the  analysts  (whose 
conclusions  differ  in  important  respects  from  those 
of  the  extremists),  recognizes  the  fewest  divisions, 
saying,  "I  can  do  nothing  with  Q'  Q'  Q'  E'  E' 
E^  J^  J^  J^  and  I  can  see  therein  nothing  but  hy- 
potheses of  embarrassment."^  But  Dillmann's  cau- 
tion could  not  stay  the  movement.  Kuenen  adds  to 
his  J  E  P  D  R  also  P^  P^  etc.,  D^  D^  etc.,  "D  and 
his  followers,"  and  "a  scribe,  including  a  whole 
series  of  his  more  or  less  independent  followers," 
whom  he  numbers  as  high  as  R^  Dr.  Driver 
adopts  D^  would  accept  P^  and  P^  but  for  the  diffi- 
culty of  defending  them,  recognizes  H,  and  requires 
at  least  two  compilers.  Dr.  B.  W.  Bacon  in  1892 
gave  the  "prevailing  theory"  in  this  formula: 
Rje  Rd — K~-  I^ut  Cornill  in  his  Einleitung  (189 1) 
had  already  far  outstripped  this  rather  incomplete 
statement  of  the  case,  and  presented  the  following 
constituents  of  the  Hexateuch :  J^  J'  J^  E^  E'  D  Dh 
Dp  P'  P'  P*  (a  substitute  for  F  P*  P^  etc.)  Rj  Rd  Rd 
Rp,  and  some  fragments  not  included  in  them. 

Now  it  may  be  safely  said  that  the  verdict  of  the 
best  judge  of  literary  questions  would  pronounce 
such  discernment  as  this  impossible,  and  the  claim 
preposterous.  But  a  scheme  which  renders  such  a 
procedure  and  such  results  legitimate,  may  itself 
be  safely  pronounced  illegitimate. 


5  Dillniann,   Exodus   and   Leviticus,  p.  vii.     MosJ  readers  will    know  the 
leaning  of  these  letters:     J,  Jehovist;   E,  F 
dactor;  P,  Priest  Code  (Wellhausen's,  Q). 


meaning  of  these  letters:     J,  Jehovist;   E,  Elohist;  D,  Deuteronomist;   R,  Re- 


THE  ANALYSIS  307 

5.  The  definite  analysis  has  been  virtually  sur- 
rendered by  some  of  its  leading  advocates.  It 
would  be  in  point  here  to  instance  the  low  estimate 
which  some  of  the  leaders  place  on  one  another's 
opinions,  when  different  from  their  own.  Kuenen, 
for  example,  who  has  not  much  to  say  to  conserva- 
tive interpreters,  freely  and  intensely  condemns  the 
opposing  opinions  of  those  who  are  more  or  less 
kindred  spirits :  Riehm,  Noeldeke,  Colenso,  Kay- 
ser,  Juelicher,  Hollenberg,  Knobel,  Schrader,  Die- 
stel,  Bredenkamp,  Maybaum.  Among  the  terms 
which  he  applies  to  their  views  at  times  are  such 
as  these :  Weak,  unsatisfactory,  grossly  improba- 
ble, inadmissible,  anything  but  conclusive,  have 
no  weight,  intrinsically  improbable  and  destitute  of 
proof,  harmonizing  shifts,  without  foundation,  ar- 
bitrary analysis,  manufacture  of  a  law  to  meet  the 
demand,  nothing  short  of  absurd,  the  sorriest  shifts. 
Occasionally  he  sweeps  away  three  of  them  at  one 
stroke  of  his  pen,  as  Bredenkamp,  Delitzsch  and 
Curtiss  (p.  294),  Dillmann,  Knobel  and  Juelicher 
(p.  152),  Wellhausen,  Julicher  and  Dillmann  (p. 
157),  Knobel,  Schrader  and  Colenso  (p.  163).  Even 
Wellhausen's  reasoning  is  sometimes  "doubtful" 
(p.  84),  and  he  can  make  "a  weak  argument." 

Coming  directly  to  the  analysis  itself,  we  find  a 
part  of  its  process  repudiated  by  Dillmann  when  he 
refuses  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  subdivision 
of  P  E  and  J  respectively  into  minor  fragments, 
and  declares  it  to  be  introducing  hypotheses  of  em- 
barrassment.     In  regard  to  the  two  most  impor- 


8d8  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

tant  documents  of  all,  namely  E  and  J,  we  have  an 
extensive  surrender  by  Kautzsch  when  he  assigns 
long  passages  and  whole  pages  to  the  two  con- 
jointly because  they  cannot  be  distinguished.  Dr. 
Driver  comments  on  the  division  of  the  two  as  pre- 
sented by  Kautzsch  and  Socin,  that  though  "great 
pains  and  care  have  been  bestowed  upon  the  prep- 
aration of  this  work,  the  details  as  far  as  the  line 
of  demarcation  between  J  and  E,  and  the  parts  as- 
signed to  the  redactor  are  concerned,  can  seldom 
claim  more  than  a  relative  probability."  He  also 
criticises  Dillmann  for  the  minuteness  with  which  he 
attempts  to  separate  J  and  E:  "It  is  often  question- 
able if  the  phraseological  criteria  upon  which  he 
mainly  relies  warrant  the  conclusions  which  he 
draws  from  them."  He  repeatedly  speaks  of  the 
"difficulty  of  disengaging  the  two  sources,"  and 
admits  that  "in  the  details  of  the  analysis  of  J  E 
there  is  sometimes  uncertainty,  owing  to  the  criteria 
being  indecisive,  and  capable  consequently  of  diver- 
gent interpretation, "and  because  of  the  probability 
that  "two  writers  would  make  use  of  the  same  ex- 
pressions, such  as  might  be  used  by  any  writer  of 
the  best  historiographal  style.  "^ 

The  extinction  of  the  individual  writers  becomes 
still  more  complete,  and  at  the  hands  of  leading 
representatives  of  the  critical  school.  Wellhausen 
in  his  section  on  J  E,  commenting  on  the  patriarchal 
history  as  there  presented,  makes  this  sweeping 
statement  (which  we  italicize) :  "For  the  most  part 

6  Driver's  Introduction,  pp.  14,  18,  17,  la. 


THE  ANALYSIS  309 

we  have  the  -prodttct  of  a  countless  number  of  narra- 
tors, unconsciously  modifying  each  other's  work.'" 
What  has  now  become  of  J  and  E  ?  Kuenen,in  addi- 
tion to  numerous  remarks  upon  the  many  changes 
which  the  Hexateuch  has  undergone,  not  traceable 
now,  such  as  that  even  P  "after  its  composition  un- 
derwent a  rather  complicated  literary  process  of 
which  we  know  nothing  with  certainty  except  the 
final  outcome  which  lies  before  us  in  the  present 
Hexateuch,"^  reaches  the  following  notable  result: 
"The  true  conclusion  is  rather  that  the  text  of  the 
Hexateuch,  not  only  here  and  there  but  throughotit 
[our  italics],  was  handled  with  a  certain  freedom  in 
the  third  century,  and  yet  more  so  previously,  be- 
ing still  subject  to  what  its  guardians  considered 
amendments.  Now  this  is  perfectly  natural  if,  but 
only  if,  we  think  of  the  redaction  of  the  Hexateuch 
not  as  an  affair  that  was  accomplished  once  for  all, 
but  as  a  labor  that  was  only  provisionally  closed  at 
first,  and  was  Jong  subsequently  continued  and  rounded 
off,  .  .  .  The  redaction  of  the  Hexateuch, 
then,  assumes  the  form  of  a  continuous  diaskeue  or 
diorthosis,  and  the  redactor  becomes  a  collective  body 
[his  italics],  headed  by  the  scribe  who  united  the 
two  works  above  spoken  of  into  a  single  whole,  but 
also  including  the  whole  series  of  his  more  or  less  in- 
dependent foil  ozuers.^''^  What  now  has  become  of  the 
individual  writers  ?  The  failure  and  the  surrender 
of  the  analysis  is  even  more  succinctly  admitted  in 

7  Wellhausen's  History,  i,  p.  327. 

8  Kuenen's  Hexateuch,  p.  303. 

9  lb.,  p.  315- 


310  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

one  of  the  latest  commentaries  on  Judges,  thus: 
"J,  E,  JE,  D,  R,  etc.,  represent  not  individual 
authors  whose  share  in  the  work  can  be  exactly 
assigned,  the  analysis,  but  stages  of  the  -process, 
in  which  more  than  one — perhaps  many — successive 
hands  participated,  every  transcription  being  to 
some  extent  a  recension.'""  Here  we  reach  the 
vanishing  point  of  J  E  JE  D  R,  "etc.'"' 

After  all  that  has  been  said,  done  and  claimed  by 
the  "higher  critics,"  this  one  thing  remains  true: 
Of  the  actual  literary  history  of  the  Hexateuch,  they 
are  in  the  same  condition  of  profound  ignorance  as 
is  the  rest  of  the  world. 

lo  Moore's  Judges,  p.  xxxiii.,  note, 
n  Notes  xxviii.  and  xxxii. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

UNFOUNDED  ASSUMPTIONS 

Some  notice,  however  brief,  may  be  expected  of 
the  considerations  which  are  chiefly  urged  against 
the  long  established  view  of  the  Hexateuch.  They 
have  been  drawn  out  in  great  detail  by  those  who 
urge  them ;  a  detail  rendered  necessary  by  the  cir- 
cuitousness  of  the  argument,  and  serving  the  three- 
fold purpose  of  making  an  impression  of  extent  and 
weight,  of  withdrawing  scrutiny  from  the  quality 
of  its  multitudinous  references,  and  also  of  divert- 
ing attention  from  the  invalidity  of  its  fundamental 
positions.  They  may  be  followed  through  all  these 
minutiae  and  opposed  at  every  stage.  But  space 
would  fail,  and  the  reader's  patience  too.  Those 
who  have  the  resolution  for  the  process  are  referred 
to  such  works  as  those  already  mentioned,  and 
several  of  the  essays  in  the  "Lex  Mosaica."  For 
the  present  purpose  it  is  not  necessary.  Their 
value  can  be  estimated  by  an  exhibition  of  their 
principles  and  method,  and  specimens  of  their  proc- 
ess. Meantime  certain  general  facts  regarding 
them  should  be  borne  in  mind. 

First,  the  analysis  of  the  Hexateuch  into  separate 
portions  does  not  determine  the  date  of  any  por- 
tion. Nor  does  the  style  or  phraseology,  except  in 
the  most  general  way.     Both  these  points  are  now 

811 


812  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

generally  admitted.  The  analysis  is  considered, 
however,  as  preparing  the  way  to  the  question  of 
the  dates. 

Again,  diversity  of  dates  would  not  directl}^ 
affect  the  truth  of  the  Hexateuch.  But  if  the  alleged 
documents  could  be  proved  to  have  originated  many 
hundred  years  after  the  events,  they  would  lose 
their  weight  as  history,  unless  it  could  be  shown 
that  they  rested  on  other  narratives  or  documents 
coeval,  or  nearly  so,  with  the  events. 

Once  more,  the  fundamental  question  at  issue  at 
present  is  not  whether  there  are  minor  inaccuracies 
in  the  Hexateuch  as  we  now  have  it,  but  is  it  fun- 
damentally true?  Here  the  issue  is  in  our  time 
squarely  joined.  With  different  degrees  of  frank- 
ness, critics  who  assign  the  Levitical  code  and  its 
setting  to  the  time  of  the  exile  and  to  the  priests, 
and  Deuteronomy  and  its  "code"  to  the  time  of 
Manasseh  or  Josiah,  place  themselves  in  direct 
conflict  with  the  statements  of  the  Hexateuch  itself; 
for  they  affirm  that  God  did  not  say  and  Moses  and 
Aaron  did  not  do  a  multitude  of  things  which  the 
Hexateuch  affirms  they  did  say  and  do.  Whether 
in  the  bold  and  constant  denials  of  Wellhausen  and 
Kuenen,  or  in  the  equivalent  declarations  of  Mr. 
W.  E.  Addis  of  Oxford,  that  "each  (witness)  in  his 
order  displays  an  increasing  taste  for  the  marvel- 
ous, and  wanders  further  from  the  fact,"  giving  a 
"history  of  religious  ideas,"  but  "not  a  history  of 
Abraham  and  Jacob,  and  of  Moses  and  Joshua,"  or 
in  the  more  gautious  words  of  Dr.  Driver, that  "we 


UNFOUNDED  ASSUMPTIONS  313 

have  before  us  traditions  modified  and  colored  by 
the  associations  of  the  age  in  which  the  author 
lived,"  and  "placing  speeches  in  the  mouths  of  his- 
torical characters,"  such  as  he  thought "  consonant," 
— in  either  form  the  conflict  is  open  and  undeniable. 

At  the  foundation  of  the  main  opposition  to  the 
long  established  view  lie  three  false  assumptions, 
distinctly  expressed  by  the  leaders  of  the  opposi- 
tion, and  necessarily  accepted  by  their  followers, 
even  when  not  so  distinctly  announced. 

I.  It  is  assumed  by  them  that  the  religious  his- 
tory of  Israel  must  have  been  simply  a  natural  and 
gradual  evolution  from  the  lower  (or  the  lowest)  to 
the  higher,  and  that  the  supernatural,  including 
revelation,  is  to  be  rejected.  Dr.  Bacon  correctly 
states  the  position  when  he  says,  "If  the  judgment 
of  historical  critics  is  worth  anything,  the  religious 
standpoint  of  JE  is  Siuch  as  cannot  possibly  be  sup- 
posed to  antedate  the  great  religious  revival  of 
Elijah."  The  assumption  of  extremists  is  that 
Israel  started  with  idolatry  like  that  of  the  nations 
around  them,  and  worked  their  way  upward.  In 
a  late  commentary  on  the  book  of  Judges  we  read 
that  "  Chemosh  is  the  god  of  Moab,  just  as  Yahweh 
is  the  god  of  Israel,"  and  "the  reality  and  power 
of  the  national  god  of  Moab  were  no  more  doubted 
by  the  old  Israelites  than  those  of  Yahweh  himself." 
The  same  writer  also  says,  "That  Yahweh's  anger 
as  well  as  his  favor  is  moral,  was  first  distinctly 
taught  in  the  eighth  century."  When  confronted 
with  abundant  instances  in  the  narrative  to  the  con-. 


314  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

trary,  such  as  when  Jehovah  passed  by  before  Moses 
(Ex.  xxiv.  6,  7),  and  proclaimed  His  wonderful  di- 
vine character,  the  resort  is  to  a  denial  of  the  date. 
In  this  particular  instance,  where  the  utterance 
stands  between  Jehovistic  passages  on  both  sides, 
we  have  in  Kautzsch  the  exegetical  legerdemain  of 
singling  out  these  two  verses  and  assigning  them  to 
the  redactor,  R.  What  cannot  be  accomplished  by 
such  devices? 

Yet  on  mere  human  grounds  this  principle  that 
such  and  such  views  and  practices  cannot  enter  but 
by  a  long-continued  development — for  practices  are 
also  covered  by  the  theory — cannot  stand  before 
facts.  There  have  arisen  at  times  originators  who 
have  changed  the  course  and  tendencies  of  human 
life  and  relationships.  Read  but  the  historian 
Green's  account  of  what  King  Alfred  did  for  Eng- 
land;  how  he  "created  a  fleet, ""began  the  concep- 
tion of  a  national  law, "and  "created  English  litera- 
ture"— a  combination  of  influences  vastly  more 
impressive  when  read  in  their  particulars  than  stated 
in  outline.  Or  turn  to  the  extraordinary  work  of 
Charlemagne,  giving  to  the  German  race  its  first 
political  organization,  carrying  law  and  order  into 
every  province  of  his  empire,  calling  teachers  of 
music  from  Rome,  gathering  round  him  poets,  his- 
torians and  copyists,  collecting  the  ancient  songs  of 
the  minstrels,  requiring  sermons  to  be  in  the  ver- 
nacular while  he  encouraged  and  pursued  the  study 
of  the  Latin  and  the  Greek,  personally  watching 
over  the  interests  and  doings  of  the  church  and  the 


UNFOUNDED  ASSUMPTIONS  315 

clergy,  regulating  the  currency,  and  fostering  trade, 
industry,  architecture  and  engineering,  and  found- 
ing schools  that  are  said  to  have  been  the  germs  of 
universities.  Such  historic  facts  show  the  untena- 
bleness  of  the  theory  when  viewed  from  its  human 
standpoint,  and  sweep  away  cavils  against  the  career 
and  work  of  Moses. 

But  by  what  right  do  men  attempt  to  rule  out  the 
supernatural  element.'^  They  must  ignore  the  per- 
son and  work  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  marvel  and  mira- 
cle of  the  ages,  who  so  abruptly  changed  the  whole 
drift  of  thought  for  the  world.  They  equally  ignore 
the  fact  that  no  other  person  in  all  history  has 
made,  by  all  admission,  so  deep  and  lasting  an  im- 
pression on  any  people  as  Moses  made  on  the  Jews. 
They  may  also  be  asked  in  particular  about  that  dec- 
alogue, the  antiquity  of  which  in  its  shorter  form  is 
undisputed  :  Whence  came  that  code  which  embodies 
in  one  brief  summary  what  the  combined  wisdom  of 
the  world  had  not  "evolved"  even  in  fragments? 
The  underlying  assumption  of  a  necessarily  slow 
evolution  is  baseless. 

2.  Their  assumption  that  non-mention  or  "si- 
lence" is  equivalent  to  denial,  is  groundless.  Abun- 
dantly as  "the  argument  from  silence"  is  employed, 
no  assumption  is  more  thoroughly  disproved  by 
human  experience.  It  forms  an  essential  part  of 
the  denial  of  the  Hexateuch  narrative.  Wellhau- 
sen  and  Kuenen  never  weary  of  saying  that  such  a 
writer  "knows  nothing"  of  some  matter.  A  rapid 
but  not  exhaustive  glance  over  the  pages  of  Kue- 


316  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

nen's  Hexateuch  detects  the  phrase  or  its  equivalent 
occurring  thirty-four  times.  Occasionally  it  is 
added  that  there  is  silence  where  mention  might  be 
expected.  But  who  knows  what  might  be  expected 
of  any  writer?  Silence  often  occurs  in  connection 
with  the  best  known  facts ;  and  abundant  cases  in 
point  are  furnished  by  those  who  have  given  it  any 
attention.  Professor  Robertson  mentions  that  the 
contemporary  monastic  annals  make  no  mention  of 
the  battle  of  Poitiers,  though  it  effectually  checked 
the  spread  of  Mohammedanism  across  Europe  ;  and 
the  Koran  makes  no  allusion  to  circumcision,  which 
is  held  by  the  Mohammedans  to  be  an  ancient  Divine 
institution,  older  than  Mohammed.  So  Leathes 
points  out  that  circumcision  among  the  Jew^s  is  never 
mentioned  in  the  minor  prophets,  the  Psalms,  Kings, 
Chronicles,  or  the  post-captivity  writings.  The 
silence  of  participants  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill 
leaves  us  in  doubt  who,  if  any  one,  exercised  the 
chief  command  on  that  occasion.  In  Bradford's 
History  of  Plymouth,  Morton's  Memorial,  Elliot's 
History  of  New  England  and  Ellis's  Puritan  Age 
of  Massachusetts,  there  is  no  allusion  (unless  we 
have  overlooked  it)  to  the  universal  Puritan  cus- 
tom of  family  prayers  and  grace  at  table.  In  Felt's 
Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England,  in  two  oc- 
tavo volumes,  where  we  might  reasonably  look  for 
some  allusion,  perhaps,  we  find  no  reference  to  the 
latter  practice,  and  to  the  former  only  one  in  a  let- 
ter from  England  concerning  servants.  Such  facts 
could  be  cited  indefinitely.  There  is  no  more  pre- 
carious assumption  for  an  argument. 


Unfounded  assumptions  sit 

3.  Another  assumption  on  which  great  reliance 
IS  placed  is  that  habitual  violation  or  non-observance 
of  a  supposed  law  proves  its  non-existence.  The 
weakness  of  this  postulate  is  even  more  apparent. 
Its  disproof  is  found  in  every  age  and  every  land. 
It  is  not  alone  individual  violation  of  law,  but  fre- 
quently the  indifference  of  whole  communities.  The 
statutes  for  the  suppression  of  intemperance  in  some 
of  the  New  England  States  are  thus  made  ineffect- 
ual. In  the  straitened  times  caused  by  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution  the  School  Laws  both  of  New 
Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  were  deliberately 
disregarded  by  many  whole  townships,  and  the 
violation  by  officials  sanctioned  by  the  town  vote  at 
the  annual  meeting.  Bishop  Blomfield  inquires, 
"Were  not  the  second  and  fourth  commandments, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  sixth  and  seventh,  habitually 
violated  by  the  Israelites?  It  has  never  been  sup- 
posed that  medieval  Popes  and  Cardinals  'knew 
nothing'  of  any  condemnation  of  simony  and  nepo- 
tism ;  or  that  the  court  of  Charles  II.  and  Louis 
XIV.  knew  nothing  of  laws  human  or  divine  against 
fornication  and  adultery.  There  are  parts  of  our 
own  literature,  as  the  comedies  at  the  time  of  the 
Restoration,  from  which,  if  the  assumption  were 
not  corrected  by  other  contemporary  literature,  we 
might  infer  that  at  certain  periods  there  were  in 
this  country  no  law,  no  church,  no  Bible,  no  God." 

To  bring  a  still  closer  parallel  to  any  suspended 
observance  of  the  Levitical  law,  he  proceeds  to  say 
that  "the  Prayer  Book  of  the  Church  of  England, 


818  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

without  taking  into  account  the  Canons  annexed  to 
it,  contains  a  large  number  of  regulations  which 
have  never  been  regularly  observed,  and  some  of 
which  have  been  almost  universally  neglected";  of 
which  he  gives  striking  instances,  including  one  in 
which  "the  practice  was  so  obsolete  that  even  its 
meaning  had  been  forgotten,  and  it  has  consequently 
received  the  most  various  and  contradictory  inter- 
pretations. Generation  after  generation  has  gone 
by,  and  millions  of  copies  of  the  Prayer  Book  have 
been  printed,  without  a  hint  that  all  its  regulations, 
down  to  the  minutest,  were  not  still  in  viridi  obser- 
vantia^  or  that  any  of  them  required  note  or  com- 
ment.'" 

The  assumption  carries  little  weight  at  its  best, 
even  when  non-observance  can  be  fairly  shown. 
But  its  "specific  levity"  in  application  is  made 
more  remarkable  by  two  auxiliary  devices:  (i)  By 
an  elaborate  sorting  of  texts  so  as  to  bring  all  allu- 
sions to  the  practice  into  what  are  claimed  to  be 
late  writings.  One  writer  remarked  that  "it  is 
startling  to  find  that  the  Priestly  Code  of  Genesis 
contains  no  allusion  to  sacrifice  or  altar";  to  which 
Bishop  Blomfield  replies:  "The  startling  nature 
of  this  discovery  is  not  very  apparent  when  you  re- 
member that  you  have  begun  by  removing  from 
the  Priestly  Code  every  passage  which  contains 
such  an  allusion,  on  the  very  ground  (among  others) 
that  it  does  contain  it.  It  is  startling  to  find  a  pack 
of  cards  which  contains  no  aces ;  but  the  wonder 

I  Blomfield,  The  Old  Testament,  pp.  176-179. 


UNFOUNDED  ASSUMPTIONS  319 

ceases  when  you  find  that  all  the  aces  have  been 
previously  and  purposely  removed.""  (2)  Failing 
in  this  process,  recourse  is  had  to  a  challenge  of  the 
text  as  "corrupt,"  "a  gloss,"  "an  interpolation," 
"a  later  alteration."  For  example:  Whereas  the 
tabernacle  of  the  congregation  (or  tent  of  meeting), 
provided  for  and  described  in  Exodus  xxv.,  is  twice 
affirmed  in  Joshua  (xviii.  i  ;  xix.  51)  to  have  been 
set  up  at  Shiloh,  Kuenen  rules  out  all  later  allu- 
sions by  pronouncing  the  declaration  of  1  Samuel 
ii.  22  to  be  "an  interpolation,"^  that  i  Kings  viii. 
4  "does  not  belong  to  the  original  account  of  the 
building  of  the  temple,"  and  that  "the  repeated  dec- 
laration of  the  Chronicler  [our  italics]  that  the  taber- 
nacle of  the  congregation  was  pitched  at  Gibeon  in 
David's  time  is  never  confirmed  by  the  books  of 
Samuel,  and  is  contradicted  by  i  Kings  iii.  4," — 
which  last  statement  the  investisfatinor  reader  will 
find  to  be  as  unsustained  as  the  last  but  one  is  "un- 
historical."  Again,  in  regard  to  the  priestly  func- 
tions, on  a  single  page  Kuenen  assumes  that  i  Sam. 
vi.  i6a  "is  a  gloss,"  that  the  Chronicler  "altered 
the  text"  (of  Sam.  viii.  18,  apparently),  that  i 
Kings  iv.  2  is  "probably  a  gloss. "^  On  another 
page  he  charges  the  Chronicler  with  an  unfounded 
statement,  finds  a  gloss  again  in  i  Sam.  vi.  15, 
affirms  that  2  Sam.  xv.  24  is  "corrupt"  and  "pur- 
posely altered,"  and  2  Sam.   xv.  27  "only  a  post- 

2  Blomfield,  pp.  172,  179. 

3  Hexateuch,  p.  199. 

4  lb.,  p.  204. 


320  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

exilian  gloss.  "^  Three  pages  later  the  reference  to 
the  Sabbath  in  Jer.  xvi.  19-27  is  intimated  to  be 
"an  interpolation  dating  from  after  the  captivity." 
In  these  modes  "silence"  is  easily  created. 

In  connection  with  unfounded  assumptions  we 
might  very  properly  include  many  of  what  are  ad- 
duced as  contradictions  in  the  various  parts  of  the 
narrative,  inasmuch  as  they  are  largely  founded  on 
certain  assumptions,  such  as  of  the  identity  of  differ- 
ent transactions,  or  the  impossibility  of  concurrent 
actions  with  diversity  of  motives,  of  added  reasons 
or  communications  being  thereby  conflicting — to- 
gether with  the  assumed  right  to  disintegrate  or 
dislocate  the  text  at  pleasure.  These  methods  are 
acutely  exposed  by  Dr.  Blomfield.  He  examines 
several  of  Dr.  Driver's  alleged  instances  of  contra- 
diction, namely, the  account  of  the  spies  (Num.  xiii., 
xiv.),  the  crafty  procedure  of  the  Gibeonites  (Josh. 
ix.),  the  rebellion  of  Korah,  Dathan  and  Abiram 
and  of  the  Levites  (Num.  xvi.),  and  the  oppressions 
of  Solomon  (i  Kings  v.,  ix.,  xi.).  In  regard  to 
the  first  he  shows  that  the  allegation  of  contradiction 
is  untenable  except  on  three  untenable  assumptions : 
(i)  that  a  writer  can  never  repeat  himself;  (2)  that 
Caleb  and  Joshua  must  have  said  exactly  the  same 
thing  when  talking  to  the  people  and  to  Moses  ;  (3) 
that  when  Caleb  only  is  mentioned  without  mention- 
ing Joshua,  or  vice  versa,  such  mention  of  the  one 
excludes  the  other.      He  also  assumes  that  a  direc- 

5  lb.,  p.  205.  Kuenen  attempts  to  justify  his  treatment  of  i  Sam.  vi.  15  as 
a  gloss  because  of  its  omission  in  the  Septu.igint  (a  slender  foundation  as 
against  the  Hebrew  reinforced  by  the  Vulgate),  but  in  regard  to  2  Sam.  xv. 
27  be  has  not  even  that  defense. 


UNFOUNDED  ASSUMPTIONS  321 

tion  from  God  to  Moses  to  send  spies  precludes  the 
desire  of  the  people  that  such  a  course  be  taken. 
The  second  contradiction  is  made  by  taking  the  ac- 
counts of  two  different  facts  to  be  two  accounts  of 
the  same  fact.  The  third  case  fails  unless  it  is  out 
of  the  question  that  three  parties  should  join  in  a 
common  rebellion  with  as  many  different  motives — 
a  combination  that  is  often  illustrated.  The  fourth 
case  rests  on  the  supposition  that  to  be  a  slave  and 
to  be  subject  to  forced  labor  are  the  same  thing ; 
the  latter  condition  being  illustrated  by  conscription, 
convict  labor  or  the  Egyptian  corvee  of  the  pres- 
ent day. 

Som.etimes  the  difficulty  is  created  by  the  trans- 
parent method  of  detaching  a  verse  from  its  place. 
Thus  in  Ex.  xii.  1-29  Dr.  Driver  assigns  verses 
1-20  to  P,  verses  21-27  and  29  to  J  and  E,  but  the 
intermediate  verse  28  back  to  P,  drawing  a  divid- 
ing line  beneath  it  and  above  its  neighbors ;  but,  as 
Dr.  Blomfield  remarks,  the  whole  difficulty  disap- 
pears if  we  transfer  verse  28  below  the  line,  where 
it  has  a  right  to  be,  and  in  the  connection  in  which 
it  was  found.  Dr.  Green  also  has  called  atten- 
tion to  the  frequency  with  which  difficulties  are 
fastened  upon  the  text,  though  created  by  the  analy- 
sis itself. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS 

The  previous  examination  of  some  unfounded  as- 
sumptions in  the  modern  criticism  makes  it  practi- 
cable to  speak  the  more  briefly  of  certain  facts  in  the 
history  of  the  Jewish  institutions,  alleged  to  be  in 
conflict  with  the  narrative  of  the  Hexateuch.  While 
the  leaders  of  the  school  appear  to  rely  mainly  upon 
the  assumption  that  certain  things  could  not  have 
taken  place  at  the  time  to  which  they  are  ascribed, 
or,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Bacon,  "cannot  possibly  be 
supposed  to  antedate"  certain  times  and  conditions, 
an  attempt  is  also  made  to  show  that  certain  observ- 
ances required  by  the  Mosaic  law  and  the  narrative 
did  not  actually  exist  till  long  afterward.  Before 
considering  these  denials  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
two  points,  formerly  more  or  less  prominent,  are 
now  withdrawn  from  the  discussion. 

It  is  conceded  by  the  critics,  as  already  men- 
tioned, that  the  language  and  style  do  not  deter- 
mine the  date  of  the  Hexateuch  or  of  its  parts. 
This  admission  became  inevitable  when,  within 
about  a  quarter  of  a  century,  by  a  sudden  reversal 
the  so-called  P  was  transformed  from  the  oldest  into 
the  youngest  of  four  main  constituents,  a  descent  of 
many  hundred  years.  There  has  been  a  great 
shrinkage  in  the  list  of  archaisms,  and  Aramaisms 

322 


UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS  323 

have  been  called  in  question,'  there  being  no  means 
of  determining  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  language. 
The  allegation  of  anachronisms,  that  is,  of  allu- 
sions to  things  of  later  date  than  that  of  the  narra- 
tive, is  mostly  withdrawn.  The  critics  shall  state 
the  case.  Dr.  Bacon  makes  this  remarkable  state- 
ment concerning  P  :  "  No  anachronism  is  traceable 
in  the  document,  for  the  writer  never  permits  him- 
self for  one  moment  to  anticipate  the  course  of  reve- 
lation as  he  has  mapped  it  out."  We  shall  have 
occasion  to  refer  to  this  admission  later.  In  regard 
to  J  and  E  Kuenen  says:  "Reference  to  historical 
facts,  such  as  might  give  a  clue  to  the  dates  of  com- 
position, are  extremely  rare  in  the  prophetic  ele- 
ments (J  and  E)  of  the  Hexateuch."  He  endeavors, 
however,  to  present  seven  instances,  the  point  of 
which  is  twofold :  the  implication  that  there  can  be 
not  only  no  prophecy  but  no  reasonable  foresight  or 
expectation  ;  and  furthermore,  an  insistence  on  find- 
ing in  the  passages  things  which  are  not  there.  To 
show  the  style  of  argument,  though  at  the  risk  of  a 
little  wearisomeness,  we  cite  them  all.  "The  author 
of  Gen.  xxvii.  29-39  seq.  is  not  only  familiar  with 
David's  victories  over  the  Edomites,  but  also  with 
the  rebellion  of  the  latter  under  Solomon  and  their 
revolt  against  Jehoram  ben  Jehoshaphat."  The 
reader  is  invited  to  look  into  these  verses  of  Jacob's 
blessing  and  see  for  himself  whether  they  speak  of 
David,  the  Edomites,  Solomon,  Jehoram,  rebellion, 

I  See  Driver's  Deuteronomy,  pp.  Ixxxviii.-xc,  where  he  even  denies  that 
*1J^J  as  a  feminine  is  archaic,  though  Delitzsch  (i.,  p.  43)  pronounces  it 
"a  veritable  archaism."  Driver  ventures  to  suggest  but  two  Aramaisms  in 
Deuteronomy, 


824  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

revolt  and  victories.  Again:  "The  writer  of  Gen. 
xxi.  44  seq.  in  all  probability  had  in  view  the  wars 
of  the  Arameans  and  Israelites  for  the  possession 
of  the  Transjordanic  district."  The  reader  will 
please  see  for  himself  what  mention  is  made  in  these 
verses  of  wars,  the  Arameans,  Israelites,  or  the 
Transjordanic  district.  Again:  "Ex.  xv.  17b  was 
written  some  considerable  time  after  the  building  of 
Solomon's  temple ;  Num.  xxiv.  7  after  the  institu- 
tion of  the  monarchy;  v.  17  after  David's  success- 
ful wars  against  Israel's  neighbors;  vs.  22-24  in  ^^ 
Assyrian  period,  presumably  not  earlier  than  the 
seventh  century  B.  C.  Finally,  Josh.  vii.  26  can- 
not have  been  written  till  the  rebuilding  of  the  walls 
of  Jericho  in  Ahab's  reign  had  long  been  a  thing 
of  the  past."  The  first  of  these  assertions  shall  be 
answered  by  Dillmann  (sustained  by  other  cited 
authorities),  who  says  that  the  mountain  of  inherit- 
ance, referred  to,  is  "not  Zion,  but  the  mountain- 
land  of  Canaan,"  and  the  "sanctuary"  was  not  the 
tent  set  up  by  David  on  Zion,  nor  Solomon's  tem- 
ple, but  "the  declaration  was  fully  accomplished 
after  that  a  common  sanctuary  had  been  established 
at  Shiloh."  The  objection  founded  on  the  second 
passage  would  interdict  Balaam  from  even  antici- 
pating from  the  successes  of  the  past  the  future  ex- 
altation of  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  and  from  choos- 
ing his  own  mode  of  expressing  it.  The  assertion 
founded  on  the  third  passage  would  incapacitate 
Balaam  from  alluding  to  the  then  impending  con- 
flict   with    Moab,    which    constituted    his    present 


UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS  325 

errand, as  well  as  to  the  manifest  certainty  of  Israel's 
victory,  and  make  him  forget  his  immediate  busi- 
ness for  a  meditation  on  events  several  hundred 
years  later.  The  last  two  have  weight  only  on 
condition  that  there  is  no  prophetic  foresight,  the 
former  of  them  being  indeed  not  unnaturally  sug- 
gested to  an  observer  by  the  history  of  Assyrian  in- 
vasions, the  existing  prevalence  of  Babylonian  cul- 
ture in  Palestine,  and  the  growing  weakness  of  the 
Egyptian  power  in  that  country.  These  instances 
form  his  case ;  although  he  also  alludes  to  three 
poetic  passages  as  givmg  pretty  clear  indications, 
the  value  of  which  he  admits  "is  impaired  by  our 
uncertainty  as  to  the  history  of  the  incorporation  of 
them  into  the  Pentateuch."^ 

Some  alleged  geographical  anachronisms  pre- 
sented to  English  readers  by  Dr.  Samuel  Davidson 
in  his  Introduction  a  generation  ago,  are  indeed  re- 
vived by  Dr.  B.  W.  Bacon  in  his  Genesis  of  Gene- 
sis ;  but  they  are  of  so  little  account,  and  so  little 
reliance  is  placed  upon  them,  that  we  dismiss  them 
to  a  note  in  the  Appendix.^  The  main  stress  of  the 
objection  to  the  Hexateuch  narrative,  as  has  been 
said,  rests  on  the  position  that  certain  observances 
and  usages  therein  described  and  prescribed  were 
actually  of  late  origin. 

The  chief  contention  against  the  truth  of  the  rec- 
ord is  in  regard  to  the  central  sanctuary.  In  Exo- 
dus XXV.  and  the  following  chapters  is  narrated  in 
detail  the  structure  of  the  tabernacle,  and  in  xxxiii. 

a  The  Hexateuch,  pp.  237,  238.  3  Note  xxxi. 


326  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

7  we  read  that  Moses  named  it  the  tabernacle  of 
the  congregation,  or  the  tent  of  meeting  (R.  V.). 
When  finished  it  received  the  ark  of  the  covenant, 
was  filled  with  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  was  placed 
in  the  center  of  the  camp,  became  the  central  object 
on  the  march  and  afterwards,  was  located  at  Shiloh 
and  other  places  subsequently ;  and  after  its  wan- 
derings and  the  loss  of  the  ark,  it  was  finally  car- 
ried to  the  temple,  which  thenceforward  became 
the  central  seat  of  worship.  But  Wellhausen  opens 
his  History  with  the  assertion  that  before  the  build- 
ing of  the  temple  "not  a  trace  can  be  found  of  any 
sanctuary  of  exclusive  legitimacy";  and  Kuenen 
begins  his  gravest  contention  with  the  statement 
that  "there  is  not  a  trace  of  the  tabernacle  in  Judges- 
Kings,"  and  "the  restriction  of  worship  was  never 
so  much  as  thought  of  before  Hezekiah." 

We  must  leave  Wellhausen  to  the  thorough  refu- 
taiton  given  him  by  Dr.  W.  L.  Baxter,  who,  in  sev- 
eral articles  in  the  Thinker,  has  followed  him  at 
every  point  and  shown  his  contention  to  be  a  singu- 
lar combination  of  bold  assertions,  bold  denials, 
unwarranted  inferences,  evasions  of  some  plain 
Scripture  declarations  and  arbitrary  exclusion  of 
others,  together  with  a  surprising  amount  of  incon- 
sistencies of  his  own,  often  amounting  to  contradic- 
tions. It  is  to  be  lamented  that  so  few  readers  see 
and  carefully  read  a  refutation  so  elaborate  and 
complete. 

We  can  but  briefly  notice  Kuenen's  positions, 
which  are  substantially  the  same  as  Wellhausen's, 


UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS  327 

somewhat  more  definitely  formulated.  And  we 
will  first  show  directly  whether  or  not  there  is  any 
trace  of  the  tabernacle  before  Hezekiah.  In  Joshua 
(xviii.  i)  we  read  that  the  children  of  Israel  assem- 
bled at  Shiloh  and  set  up  the  tabernacle  of  the  con- 
gregation there;  and  in  chapter  xix.  51  we  also 
read  that  it  was  there.  In  Judges  xviii.  31  and  i 
Sam.  i.  24  we  read  again  of  "the  house  of  God  in 
Shiloh,"  which  i  Sam.  ii.  14,22  identifies  with  the 
tabernacle.  In  2  Sam.  vii.  6  God's  words  through 
Nathan  are  that "  since  the  day  that  I  brought  up  the 
children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  I  have  walked  in  a 
tent  and  a  tabernacle."  In  i  Kingsviii.  4,  "They 
brought  up  the  ark  of  the  Lord  and  the  tabernacle 
of  the  congregation"  to  the  temple;  and  in  i.  39 
mention  is  made  of  the  "tent,"  "the  tent  of  the 
Lord."  The  tabernacle  of  the  Lord  is  also  men- 
tioned in  those  same  words  in  i  Chron.  xvi.  39, 
xxi.  29,  xxiii.  26;  2  Chron.  i.  3,  5,  6,  13.  In  Jer.  vii. 
12-14  ^^^  speaks  of  "Shiloh  where  I  caused  my 
name  to  dwell  at  first." 

Here  are  traces  enough ;  too  many  to  be  disposed 
of  by  the  argument  from  silence.  Therefore  Kue- 
nen  pronounces  i  Sam.  ii.  22b  "an  interpolation," 
says  that  i  Kings  viii.  4  "does  not  belong  to  the 
original  account,"  and  that  "the  repeated  declara- 
tion of  the  Chronicler  is  never  confirmed  by  the 
books  of  Samuel  and  is  contradicted  by  i  Kings  iii. 
4."  Now  the  assertion  of  the  interpolation  has  no 
stronger  foundation  than  its  omission  from  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  though  found   in   all   Hebrew   copies  and 


328  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

recognized  without  a  question  by  the  English  and 
American  revisers.  The  second  statement,  that 
the  passage  "does  not  belong,"  is  his  arbitrary  as- 
sertion. Th.Q.'''' repeated^''  declaration  of  the  Chron- 
icler is  confirmed  by  both  Samuel  and  i  Kings,  as 
the  reader  will  see  by  the  references  we  have  given, 
and  is  not  contradicted  but  confirmed  by  i  Kings  iii.  4.  * 
The  passage  reads  thus  :  "The  king  went  to  Gibeon 
to  sacrifice  there  ;  for  that  was  the  great  high  place  ; 
a  thousand  burnt  offerings  did  Solomon  offer  on 
that  altar."  Gibeon  was  the  great  high  place,  of 
the  altar,  the  sacrifice,  and  (i  Chron.  xvi.  39,  40, 
xxi.  29 ;  2  Chron.  i.  3-5)  of  the  tabernacle — which 
last  fact  made  it  the  great  high  place.  It  was  here 
that  God  appeared  to  Solomon  in  a  dream  by  night. 
As  if  to  remedy  this  failure,  Kuenen  turns  to  cite 
instances  of  sacrifices  offered  elsewhere  than  at  the 
central  sanctuary.  It  is  a  singular  list.  He  first 
refers  to  four  sacrifices  offered  at  "the  temple  of 
the  Lord  at  Shiloh,"  which  was  itself  then  the  cen- 
tral sanctuary,  as  will  be  presently  shown.  He 
closes  the  list  with  the  three  instances  of  David's 
sacrificing  "wherever  the  ark  halts"  on  its  way  to 
Zion,  which  again  was  entirely  regular,  inasmuch 
as  the  ark  of  the  covenant  was  the  specially  sacred 
content  of  the  tabernacle,  but  had  been  separated 
from  it  by  the  capture  at  Aphek.  Between  these 
cases  he  introduces  the  sanctuary  in  Mount  Ephraim 

4  The  Chronicler  finds  no  favor  with  Wellhausen  and  Kuenen,  being  con- 
staiilly  der.ried  when  in  conflict  with  their  assertions  But  on  all  other  oc- 
casions they  make  free  use  of  liini.  Thus  Kuenen  cites  him  on  pa^es  195, 
iq6,  202,  206,  208,  twice  on  page  206,  thirteen  times  on  page  196,  and  with  more 
than  twenty  references  on  page  195. 


UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS  329 

established  by  Micah,  who  had  stolen  his  mother's 
money,  and  established  "a  house  of  gods"  with 
teraphim,  a  graven  image  and  a  molten  image ;  that 
of  the  Danites,  who  carried  off  Micah's  gods  and 
"setup  a  graven  image";  and  the  sacrifice  of  Saul, 
for  which  he  was  so  sternly  rebuked  and  condemned 
by  Samuel.  He  also  refers  to  the  sacrifice  at  Bo- 
chim,  which  for  aught  we  know  may  have  been  in 
close  proximity  to  the  tabernacle  which  was  then  at 
Shechem  (Josh.  xxiv.  25,  26),  and  at  all  events 
immediately  followed  the  warning  of  "the  angel  of 
the  Lord"  there  present;  also  the  offerings  at  Miz- 
pah,  where  we  read  that  "the  house  of  God"  and 
"the  ark"  then  were;  Gideon's  offering  at  Ophrah, 
and  Manoah's  at  Zorah,  in  both  which  instances  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  had  first  appeared  and  directed 
the  offerings  ;  and  Samuel's  sacrifice  at  Bethlehem, 
which  the  narrative  says  was  by  God's  direct  com- 
mand. These  three  instances,  occurring  at  times 
and  places  of  God's  special  manifestation,  were  in 
accord  with  the  original  appointment,  as  will  pres- 
ently appear.  Should  Kuenen  deny  the  supernat- 
ural manifestation,  as  very  likely  he  would,  he 
simply  impeaches  the  witness  on  whom  he  relies 
for  his  facts.  Samuel's  building  an  altar  at  Ramah 
is  also  cited ;  but  as  it  is  unknown  where  the  ark 
and  tabernacle  were  at  this  time,  we  cannot  tell 
whether  this  was  a  regular  procedure,  or  a  special 
one  growing  out  of  the  anomalous  state  of  things. 
None  of  the  cases  cited  proves  unrestricted  freedom 
as  to  the  place  of  sacrifice,  and  some  of  them  are 
absurdly  irrelevant. 


830  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Still  more  remarkable  is  the  method  of  showing 
that  "the  same  freedom  still  prevailed  for  centuries 
after  the  erection  of  the  temple."  One  is  hardly 
prepared  to  find  Kuenen's  sole  evidence  to  be  that 
Asa,  Jehoshaphat,  Amariah,  Uzziah,  Jotham,  Joash 
and  Ahaz  "maintained  the  bamoth"  or  idolatrous 
high  places.  But  (i)  the  Scripture  statement  is  not 
that  they  maintained,  but  that  they  did  not  take 
away  these  high  places ;  (2)  in  Kuenen's  own  words, 
"the  writer  of  Kings  registers  this  as  a  transgres- 
sion"; and  (3)  of  Joash  it  is  also  recorded  that  he 
took  all  the  hallowed  things  and  all  the  gold  that  was 
found  in  the  treasury  of  the  Lord  and  with  them 
bought  off  Hazael  king  of  Assyria,  as  Asa  had  pre- 
viously done  to  Ben-hadad ;  and  of  Ahaz  that  he 
"made  his  son  to  pass  through  the  fire, according  to 
the  abominations  of  the  heathen  whom  the  Lord 
had  cast  out  before  the  children  of  Israel."  Though 
similar  things  are  not  recorded  of  the  others,  they 
are  all  censured  for  the  thing  for  which  Kuenen 
cites  their  example.  It  is  also  recorded  as  a  special 
merit  of  the  good  Hezekiah  that  he  actually  took 
away  the  idolatrous  high  places  and  destroyed  the 
objects  of  idolatrous  worship,  and  of  Josiah  that  he 
thoroughly  completed  this  and  other  religious  ref- 
ormations. 

Kuenen  might  also  have  referred  to  Ahab,  who 
reared  an  altar  to  Baal  in  Samaria  ;  to  Jeroboam  the 
son  of  Nebat,  who  set  up  the  golden  calves  at  Bethel 
and  Dan,  and  offered  sacrifices  to  them  ;  and  to  Jehu, 
•yvho,   though  he  destroyed  the  prophets  of  Baal, 


UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS  381 

"departed  not  from  the  sins  of  Jeroboam,  to  wit, 
the  golden  calves  at  Bethel  and  Dan."  But  he  for- 
bears. 

The  alleged  conflict  as  to  the  place  of  sacrifice, 
between  Exodus  on  the  one  hand  and  Leviticus  and 
Deuteronomy  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  forced  inter- 
pretation. The  case  is  simple.  In  Exodus  (xx. 
24)  God  directs  sacrifices  "in  all  places  where  I 
record  my  name,"  or  (R.  V.)  "in  every  place  where 
I  cause  my  name  to  be  remembered,"  or  (Kautzsch) 
"designate  that  I  will  be  honored,"  or  (De  Wette, 
Robinson,  Fuerst) ' '  praised. ' '  In  Deuteronomy (xii. 
5),  when,  nearly  forty  years  later,  the  Israelites 
were  about  to  enter  the  land  of  promise,  God  indi- 
cates that  there  is  to  be  "the  place  which  the  Lord 
your  God  shall  choose  out  of  all  your  tribes  to  put 
his  name  there,"  namely,  a  particular  and  perma- 
nent place  to  which  they  should  come  with  their 
offerings  and  seek  him.  But  during  the  journey 
from  Sinai  the  one  place  designated  by  God  was  the 
tabernacle,  where  the  cloud  and  the  fire  manifested 
His  special  presence,  moving  successively  from 
place  to  place  with  the  changes  of  encampment 
(Num.  ix.  15-22).  In  Palestine  the  place  of  sacri- 
fice continued  with  the  tabernacle,  first  at  Shiloh, 
afterwards  at  Shechem,  Gibeon,  Nob,  and  perhaps 
other  places,  and  it  accompanied  the  resting  places 
of  the  ark  when  David  conveyed  it  to  Zion,  till  it 
found  a  permanent  location  when  Solomon  brought 
ark  and  tabernacle  to  the  temple  (i  Kings  viii.  4). 
The  separation  of  the  ark  from  the  tabernacle  may 


832  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

have  caused  embarrassment  and  irregularities,  es- 
pecially in  lawless  limes,  but  the  instances  of 
Manoah,  Gideon  and  Samuel  need  not  be  considered 
irregularities,  inasmuch  as  God  saw  fit  to  manifest 
Himself  by  the  "angel  of  the  Lord"  in  the  first 
two  instances  and  by  express  command  in  the  third, 
directing  the  sacrifice. 

A  simple  and  obvious  interpretation  thus  removes 
all  appearance  of  conflict  between  Exodus  and  Deu- 
teronomy in  regard  to  the  central  sanctuary,  and 
the  contention  that  the  difference  supposes  the  lapse 
of  centuries  between.  A  similar  argument  in  refer- 
ence to  certain  required  observances  and  usages 
equally  breaks  down. 

For  it  is  argued  that  certain  feasts  and  sacred  ac- 
tions enjoined  in  the  Priest  Code  do  not  appear  to 
have  been  observed,  and  therefore  its  late  origin  is 
thus  proved.  The  answer  is  that  they  are  men- 
tioned to  as  great  an  extent  as  could  be  expected, 
even  as  shown  by  the  admissions  of  Kuenen,  and 
by  the  allusions  of  prophets  whose  antiquity  he  is 
obliged  to  recognize.  He  admits  that  the  feast  of 
the  tabernacles  is  frequently  mentioned,  and  that 
Hosea  and  Amos,  whose  antiquity  he  does  not  dis- 
pute, speak  of  feasts  in  the  plural ;  also  that  the 
feast  of  the  new  moon  was  observed  from  the  ear- 
liest times,  as  proved  by  Amos,  Hosea,  Kings, 
Samuel  and  Isaiah ;  that  the  Sabbath  is  a  very  an- 
cient institution ;  and  that  the  year  of  release  is 
mentioned  once  by  Ezekiel ;  also  that  the  trespass 
offering  is  not  unknown,  as  well  as  the  Nazarite's 


UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS  3^3 

VOW ;  and  that  circumcision  appears  to  have  been 
regularly  practiced/  This  is  a  surrender  of  all 
that  is  needed  to  invalidate  the  general  statement, 
since  we  could  not  expect  these  writers  to  go  into 
a  historical  inventory  of  things  completely  specified 
elsewhere  in  the  proper  place.  He  objects  to  some 
of  these  that  they  did  not  spring  from  the  Tora  (or 
law), — which  is  merely  his  assertion.  He  affirms 
that  the  year  of  jubilee  is  never  mentioned,  even  in 
Jer.  xxxiv.  9-20,  although  the  fact  that  the  prophet 
in  verse  17  uses  the  very  term  employed  in  Lev. 
XXV.  10,  used  of  the  jubilee,  "proclaim  liberty," 
has  led  many  so  to  understand  it.  He  also  aflSrms 
that  the  first  celebration  of  the  passover  of  which 
we  have  historical  assurance,  is  Josiah's  passover, 
2  Kings  xxiii.  21-23.  The  narrative  distinctly  im- 
plies the  contrary ;  for  it  records  that  there  had  not 
been  '•''  stcch  a  passover  from  the  days  of  the  judges, 
nor  in  all  the  da3'S  of  the  kings  of  Israel  nor  of  the 
kings  of  Judah," — an  unmeaning  comparison  ex- 
cept as  the  passover  had  been  observed  in  some  way 
during  those  times  and  in  both  kingdoms.  Besides 
some  minor  omissions  requiring  no  special  attention, 
he  says  truly  that  the  great  Day  of  Atonement  is 
never  mentioned.  But  far  more  significant  than 
direct  mention  is  the  fact  that  in  Solomon's  temple 
a  separate  and  permanent  provision  was  made  of  the 
most  holy  place  (i  Kings  viii.  5-1 1),  precisely  as 
in  the  tabernacle,  where  the  ark  was  placed  under 
the  cherubim,  this  part  of  the  tabernacle  being  re- 

5  Hexateuch,  pp.  207-210. 


334  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

served  for  use  only  on  the  annual  Day  of  Atonement^ 
and  entered  then  by  the  high  priest  alone.  This 
conclusively  shows  that  it  was  and  was  to  be  a  set- 
tled arrangement ;  and  its  very  notoriety  was  a  nat- 
ural reason  why  it  was  not  particularly  mentioned. 
In  what  history  of  the  United  States  or  of  New 
England  can  there  be  found  any  formal  notice  of 
the  Fourth  of  July  ?  Another  important  fact  in  con- 
nection with  the  Day  of  Atonement  is  that  not  only 
is  there  no  mention  of  it  in  the  Old  Testament  his- 
tory, but  nowhere  else  do  we  find  any  allusion  to 
it  till  about  two  and  perhaps  three  centuries  after 
the  return  from  the  exile, ^  the  time  when,  according 
to  the  critical  theory,  the  Levitical  code  had  been 
introduced  and  the  observance  must  have  been  long 
-practiced.  Non-mention  does  not  imply  non-exist- 
ence. 

Thus  it  clearly  appears  that  both  the  historical 
and  prophetical  books  confirm  the  knowledge  of  the 
main  points  of  the  Mosaic  law  throughout  the  his- 
tory of  Israel,  notwithstanding  the  disorders  of  many 
centuries,  and  although,  as  Wellhausen  truly  re- 
marks, "for  reasons  easily  explained,  it  is  seldom 
that  an  occasion  arises  to  describe  the  ritual."  The 
denials  are  unsustained. 

But  the  objectors  appeal  in  a  certain  way  to  the 
earliest  of  the  writing  prophets,  chiefly  to  Amos 
and  Hosea,  the  former  assigned  to  the  northern 
kingdom,  the  latter  to  the  southern  as  earl}^  as  the 
middle  of  the  eighth  century  B.  C.     The  genuine- 

6  Arcording  as  in  Ecclesiasticus  I.  50,  mention  is  made  of  Simon  I.  or 
Siinon  II. 


UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS  885 

ness  of  the  writings  is  undisputed  by  them,  except 
as  some  extremists  have  ruled  out  certain  passages 
in  Amos  that  conflict  with  their  theories.  Isaiah 
also  is  cited  to  some  extent.  We  have  seen  in  a 
previous  chapter  how  these  prophets  refer  to  the 
chief  events  recorded  in  the  Hexateuch.  Their 
brief  allusions  to  the  institutions  are  equally  con- 
firmatory. And  Amos  in  speaking  of  the  past  his- 
tory and  of  the  prophets  and  Nazarites  appeals  di- 
rectly to  the  knowledge  of  the  people:  "Is  it  not 
even  so,  O  ye  children  of  Israel?'"  Both  prophets 
speak  of  a  covenant,  a  law  of  Jehovah,  His  statutes, 
the  law  of  God,  which  Israel  had  forgotten,  rejected, 
transgressed.^  They  had  abandoned  Jehovah  for 
idols  and  for  criminal  lusts. ^  Hosea  speaks  of  the 
feast  days,  new  moons,  sabbaths  and  solemn  feasts 
as  established  institutions,  which  God  in  anger 
would  take  away  ;^°  and  Amos  of  the  custom  of 
sacrifice,  tithes  and  thank  offerings,  although  re- 
buking the  worshipers  for  their  transgressions." 
Hosea  speaks  of  the  sin  of  removing  the  ancient 
landmark,  and  of  striving  with  the  priest,  ^^  together 
with  allusions  less  clear  and  certain.  The  recogni- 
tion of  these  Mosaic  regulations  is  so  unmistakable 
that  Wellhausen  and  Kuenen  have  resorted  to  the 
device  of  asserting  God's  rebuke  of  the  abuse  of  the 
institutions  to  be  a  warfare  against  their  use,  a 
"polemic  against  the  praxis."  While  intelligent 
readers  will  continue  to  see,    as  they  always  have 

7  Amos  ii.  ii.  lO  lb.  ii.  ii. 

8  Am.  ii.  4.     Hos.  iv.  6;  vii.  7;  viii.  i,  12.  11  Amos  iv.  4,  5. 

9  Hosea  iv.  12-14.  12  Hos.  v.  10;  iv.  4. 


336  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

seen,  that  the  rebukes  are  directed  against,  not  the 
observance,  but  the  hypocritical  observance,  the 
absurdity  of  Wellhausen's  contention  becomes  too 
plain  for  argument  w^hen  applied  to  one  of  the  most 
striking  instances,  cited  by  him  with  special  em- 
phasis, namely,  Isaiah  1.  11-17,  where  God  spurns, 
not  all  oblations,  but  "vain  oblations,"  and  their 
other  ceremonial  observances,  when  they  are  but 
the  superficial  mask  of  inner  unrighteousness  and 
corruption.  If  the  closing  strenuous  demand  for  pu- 
rit}'',  repentance,  justice,  mercy  and  compassion  are 
not  sufficient,  take  one  decisive  test:  when  God 
says,  "When  ye  make  many  prayers,  I  will  not 
hear,"  does  God  condemn  prayer,  or  prayer  offered 
in  such  a  spirit  ?  There  can  be  but  one  answer, 
and  that  answer  settles  the  whole  interpretation  of 
Wellhausen  to  be  absurd. 

Thus  far  then  the  objections  to  the  early  existence 
of  the  Levitical  code  appear  to  have  no  substantial 
foundation.  There  remains  one  other  point  in  that 
code  which  requires  attention,  which  will  be  con- 
sidered in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS  :    THE  PRIESTHOOD 

In  patriarchal  times  there  was  no  special  priest- 
hood, but  sacrifices  apparently  were  offered  by  the 
head  of  the  family,  and,  as  some  suppose,  the  priestly 
function  descended  to  the  first  born.  Some  have 
recognized  the  family  priesthood  in  Exodus  xix, 
22-24  and  xxiv.  5.  After  the  exodus,  according  to 
the  narrative,  the  family  of  Aaron  was  set  apart 
for  a  hereditary  priesthood,  and  later  the  whole 
tribe  of  Levi  was  separated  for  the  service  of  the 
tabernacle. 

Kuenen  (and  others)  asserts  that  no  such  exclu- 
sive qualification  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  existed  in 
early  times,  and  that  the  distinction  between  priests 
and  Levites  in  general  appears  in  the  whole  exilian 
and  pre-exilian  literature  but  once,  and  that  in  a 
passage  which  he  does  not  accept.  Thus  again  he 
endeavors  to  show  the  late  origin  of  the  Levitical 
code  which  so  minutely  establishes  the  system. 

If  the  Biblical  account  be  true  and  all  the  details 
were  adjusted  as  prescribed,  there  was  no  reason  why 
the  later  records  should  give  any  recapitulation  of 
these  details.  The  most  that  could  be  expected 
would  be  incidental  references  and,  as  usual,  some 
of  them  so  incomplete  as  to  require  for  their  ex- 
planation a  knowledge  of  the  original  arrangement. 

337 


3S8  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

As  matter  of  fact,  evidence  of  the  separation  of  the 
Levites  to  the  service  of  the  sanctuary  is  found  in 
all  stages  of  the  history  of  the  nation.  At  the  en- 
trance into  Palestine,  some  forty  years  after  the 
system  is  recorded  to  have  been  made,  we  find  it 
in  full  operation.  Both  at  the  crossing  of  the  Jor- 
dan and  in  the  march  around  Jericho  the  priests  are 
in  sole  charge  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and,  as  if 
to  anticipate  this  very  cavil,  they  are  termed  (iii.  3) 
"the  priests  the  Levites."  Were  we  to  accept  the 
critics'  date  of  these  passages  (J  E),  they  were  writ- 
ten eight  hundred  years  B.  C.  At  Shechem, 
where  Joshua  built  an  altar  and  "wrote  upon  the 
stones  a  copy  of  the  law  of  Moses,"  it  is  "the  priests 
the  Levites  which  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant" 
(viii.  33).  This  passage  is  assigned  by  Kautzsch 
to  Dt  of  nondescript  date.  Twice  we  read  in 
Joshua  of  Aaron  the  priest,  three  times  of  Eleazar 
the  priest  (Aaron's  son),  and  once  of  "Phinehas 
the  priest,"  twice  called  "Phinehas  the  son  of 
Eleazar  the  priest";  and  chapter  xxi.  is  given  up  to 
the  assignment  of  the  cities  of  the  Levites,  which 
are  summed  up  as  "all  the  cities  of  the  children  of 
Aaron  the  priests."  This  passage  is  ascribed  by 
Kautzsch  to  P,  the  latest  main  portion,  so  that  the 
record  by  his  showing  covers  many  hundred  years 
— from  JE  to  P.  Again,  the  congregation  are  told 
(xviii.  7),"  The  Levites  have  no  part  among  you,  for 
the  priesthood  of  the  Lord  is  their  inheritance"; 
and  the  same  statement  is  made  in  chapter  xiii., 
verses  14  and  33,  with  the  addition  in  both  cases, 


UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS:  THE  PRIESTHOOD  339 

"as  he  said  unto  them,"  obviously  referring  to  the 
previous  announcement  in  Deut.  xviii.  i,  2,  and 
that  apparently  to  Num.  xviii.  8-32.  Thus  these 
writings  concur.  It  is  not  surprising  that  Professor 
Robertson  Smith,  in  his  critical  argument,  should 
say,  "I  exclude  the  book  of  Joshua,  because  it  in 
all  its  parts  hangs  closety  together  with  the  Penta- 
teuch." Even  from  the  disorderly  times  of  the 
judges  there  comes  a  statement  to  the  effect  (Judg. 
vii.  13),  where  Micah  says,  "Now  know  I  that  the 
Lord  will  do  me  good,  since  I  have  a  Levite  to  be 
my  priest."  In  the  days  of  Samuel,  Eli  the  high 
priest  was  a  descendant  of  Aaron,  and  the  state- 
ment meets  us  once  more  (i  Sam.  ii,  27,  28)  that 
his  father's  house  had  been  chosen  out  of  all  the 
tribes  of  Israel  "to  be  my  priest,  to  go  upon  mine 
altar,  to  burn  incense,  to  wear  an  ephod  before 
me," — priest's  duties  all ;  and  his  reprobate  sons, 
Hophni  and  Phinehas,  were  in  the  priest's  office  (i. 
3;  ii.  27,  28)  and  attended  on  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant (iv.  4).  The  Lord's  priest  at  Shiloh  in  Saul's 
time  was  Ahiah,  grandson  of  Eli  (xi.  3) ;  and  Abia- 
thar,  whom  Solomon  thrust  out  from  being  priest, 
was  a  descendant  of  Eli  (i  Kings  ii.  27).  Zadok, 
his  successor,  was  of  the  line  of  Eleazar  (i  Chron.  vi. 
8).  In  Kings  and  Chronicles  we  read  repeatedly  of 
the  Levites  as  being  in  charge  of  the  ark  and  col- 
lecting and  holding  the  money  for  the  repairs  of 
the  house  of  the  Lord.  It  is  recorded  as  one  of 
the  grave  wrong-doings  of  Jeroboam  that  he  made 
priests  of  "those  who  were  not  of  the  sons  of  Levi." 


840  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Thus  at  all  these  various  points  of  the  history  we 
have  evidence  that  the  sacerdotal  functions,  includ- 
ing the  care  of  the  tabernacle  and  the  ark  of  the 
covenant,  were  allied  to  the  tribe  of  Levi.  When 
the  progress  of  the  ark  to  the  city  of  David  w^as  for 
a  time  arrested  by  the  punishment  of  Uzzah  for  his 
presumption,  on  the  renewal  of  the  effort  David 
took  precautions  that  only  Levites  should  be  Its 
bearers;  for  he  said,  "None  ought  to  carry  the  ark 
of  God  but  the  Levites,  for  them  hath  God  chosen 
to  carry  the  ark  of  God  and  to  minister  unto  Him 
forever." 

Kuenen  endeavors  to  break  the  force  of  this  ac- 
cumulated evidence  by  adducing  instances  of  the 
priestly  function  of  sacrifice  exercised  by  others 
than  Levites.  We  give  his  complete  list :  Gideon, 
Manoah,  Micah,  the  citizens  of  Beth-shemesh, 
Samuel,  Saul  and  Jeroboam;  and  he  adds,  "Ac- 
cording to  Ezekiel  xliv.  6-9  even  foreigners  v/ere 
admitted  to  the  service  of  the  sanctuary  before  the 
captivity."  The  list  shows  both  the  straits  to  which 
an  acute  writer  can  be  reduced,  and  his  confidence 
that  his  readers  will  not  scrutinize  his  references. 
The  passage  in  Ezekiel  is  a  denunciation  of  "the 
rebellious  house  of  Israel"  for  their  "abominations" 
in  doing  this  very  thing.  Of  Jeroboam's  example 
it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  he  is  the  notorious 
character  steadily  described  as  "Jeroboam  the  son 
of  Nebat,  which  did  cause  Israel  to  sin."  Micah 
was  first  a  thief  and  then  an  open  idolater.  Saul 
was  sternly  rebuked  for  his  presumption  and  diso- 


UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS:  THE  PRIESTHOOD  341 

bedience,  and  threatened  on  the  spot  with  the  loss 
of  the  kingdom.  Samuel,  though  not  a  descend- 
ant of  Aaron,  was  a  Levite,  had  a  special  consecra- 
tion as  a  Nazarite  before  his  birth,  early  became 
the  assistant  of  Eli  the  high  priest,  wearing  the 
ephod  and  sleeping  in  connection  with  the  sanctu- 
ary, had  a  personal  call  and  repeated  communica- 
tions from  God  to  be  a  reformer  and  a  prophet,  and 
certainly  in  one  instance  a  definite  direction  to  offer 
sacrifice.  Manoah  and  Gideon  also  at  the  time  of 
their  offerings  were  under  the  direction  of  the  angel 
of  the  Lord.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  citizens  of 
Beth-shemesh  offered  their  sacrifices  otherwise 
than  in  the  regular  way,  by  the  hands  of  the  priests  ; 
for  the  record  says  that  the  Levites  were  there  and 
"took  down  the  ark  of  the  Lord  and  the  coffer  that 
was  in  it  and  put  them  on  the  great  stone"  (i  Sam. 
vi.  14).  If  the  sacrifice  was  made  by  these  men 
personally,  and  not  through  the  Levites,  it  would 
have  been  an  extraordinary  and  irregular  expression 
of  their  joy — for  "they  rejoiced" — in  irregular  cir- 
cumstances, the  ark  being  brought  to  their  village 
by  a  yoke  of  unguided  kine.  Possibly  this  was  the 
case,  for  we  read  that  the  Lord  smote  the  men  of 
Beth-shemesh  because  they  had  looked  into  the  ark 
of  the  Lord.  As  to  the  remaining  instances  of 
David  and  Solomon,  the  brief  statement  that  they 
offered  sacrifices  no  more  involves  their  direct  ac- 
tion than  when  "Solomon  built  him  an  house."  In 
the  first  instance  cited  by  Kuenen  in  regard  to 
David  (2  Sam.  17,  i8)  the  very  next  verse  relates 


342  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

thai  David  "dealt  among  all  the  people,  among  the 
whole  multitude  of  Israel,  as  well  to  the  women  as 
men,  to  every  man  a  cake  of  bread  and  a  good  piece 
of  flesh."  Did  he  distribute  to  all  this  multitude 
with  his  own  hands?  The  next  verse  preceding 
also  says  that  the  ark  was  set  in  the  midst  of  "the 
tabernacle  which  David  had  pitched  for  it,"  and, 
four  verses  previous,  that  "David  brought  up  the 
ark  of  God."  Did  he  carry  the  ark  and  pitch  the 
tent  with  his  own  hands?  Kuenen's  first  quotation 
in  regard  to  Solomon's  sacrifice  shows  the  absurdity 
of  the  claim  (i  Kings  iii.  4):  "A  thousand  burnt 
offerings  did  Solomon  offer  on  that  altar,"  If  Solo- 
mon offered  these  thousand  victims  with  his  own 
hands,  he  was  a  much  stronger  man  than  Samson ; 
"he  was  the  very  strong  man  Kwasind,  he  was  the 
strongest  of  all  mortals."  This  exhausts  Kuenen's 
catalogue  wherewith  to  break  down  the  uniform 
testimony  of  the  record.  Further  comment  is  need- 
less.^ 

But  it  is  further  affirmed  in  objection  that  the 
distinction  so  emphasized  in  Leviticus  and  Deuteron- 
omy between  the  priests  and  Levites  in  general 
does  not  appear  previous  to  the  exile,  and  that  this 
proves  "P"  to  be  as  late  as  the  exile.  The  strength 
of  the  objection  lies  in  disregarding  the  standing 
distinction  between  the  exactness  of  technical  or 
legal  statements  and  the  inexactness  of  popular  and 
current  phraseology.  In  Leviticus  and  Numbers 
we  have  the  careful  legislation.     Again  in  i  Chron. 

;  For  specimens  of  Kuenen's  style  of  references  see  Note  xxx. 


UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS:  THE  PRIESTHOOD  343 

xxiii.  24-32  there  is  a  re-statement  of  the  case  in 
entire  accordance  with  Leviticus,  as  a  statutory  re- 
enactment  or  at  least  defining  statement  by  David, 
in  which  it  is  said  of  the  Levites,  "Their  office  was 
to  wait  on  the  sons  of  Aaron  for  the  service  of  the 
house  of  the  Lord,"  accompanied  with  an  enumera- 
tion of  details.  Kuenen,  if  he  took  notice  of  the 
passage,  would  doubtless  deny  its  validity ;  but  it 
states  David's  method  as  known  to  the  Chronicler. 
That  the  distinction  was  well  known  even  in  the 
disorderly  times  of  the  judges  appears  from  the  fact 
that  after  Micah's  bargain  with  the  Levite,  the 
record  reads  further  (Judg.  xvii.  12),  "Micah  conse- 
crated the  Levite,  and  the  young  man  became  his 
priest";  he  was  not  already  a  priest  by  being  a  Le- 
vite. In  I  Kings  viii.  4  the  distinction  is  made, 
"the  priests  and  the  Levites."  But  Kuenen  de- 
clares in  italics  that  "the  writer  of  Kings  cannot 
have  written"  so,  "first  because  he  mentions  the 
priests  alone  in  verses  3,  6,  10,  11,"  which  proves 
nothing;  and  "in  the  next  place  he  regards  all  the 
priests  as  qualified  for  the  priesthood"  (i  Kings  xii. 
31);  which  passage  the  reader  will  find  to  be  the 
information  that  yerobomn  "made  priests  of  the 
lowest  of  the  people,  which  were  not  of  the  sons  of 
Levi."  The  Chronicler  speaks  also  of  "the  priests 
and  the  Levites"  in  the  reign  of  Jehoiada,  of  Joash, 
and  of  Hezekiah,  where  (2  Chron.  xxix.  34)  the 
distinction  of  functions  is  alluded  to,  and  in  xxxi.  9, 
where  Azariah,  the  chief  priest,  is  mentioned  as 
"of  the  house  of  Zadok,"  a  descendant  of  Aaron. 


3M  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

Denial  of  their  truth  does  not  remove  the  testimo- 
nies. The  Chronicler  (as  Kuenen  recognizes)  always 
assigns  to  the  Levites  the  task  of  bearing  the  ark.^ 
So  also  does  2  Sam.  xv.  24,  which  Kuenen  dis- 
misses as  "corrupt." 

The  chief  reliance  in  the  denial  of  the  distinction 
thus  clearly  specified  at  various  stages  of  the  his- 
tory, is  an  appeal  to  a  frequent  usage  in  Deuter- 
onomy and  elsewhere,  namely,  "the  priests  the 
Levites,"  which,  it  is  argued,  makes  the  terms  co- 
extensive. If  the  order  were  reversed,  namely,  the 
Levites  the  priests,  the  appeal  w^ould  have  weight. 
But  it  is  always  the  other  order,  merely  adding  to 
the  v/ord  priest  the  tribal  designation.  It  would 
show  at  least  that  the  custom  had  sprung  up  of  add- 
ing to  the  mention  of  this  prominent  class  their  dis- 
tinctive and  distinguished  tribal  name,  superfluously 
but  popularly.  There  is  a  similar  superfluous  ad- 
dition in  mentioning  "the  children  of  Aaron  the 
priest,  which  were  of  the  Levites"  (Josh.  xxi.  4), 
and  (Ex.  iv.  14)  even  "Aaron  the  Levite."  It  is 
difficult  if  not  impracticable  to  classify  these  vary- 
ing usages  on  any  particular  principle.  But  that 
the  addition  of  the  word  Levite  does  not  make  all 
Levites  priests  appears,  among  other  indications, 
from  the  fact  that  from  the  language  of  Malachi 
(ii.  I,  4,  8;  iii.  3)  it  might  just  as  well  be  argued 
that  all  Levites  were  priests,  whereas  the  distinc- 
tion is  admitted  on  all  hands  to  have  been  established 
at  that  time.      Again,  in  Deuteronomy,  where  the 

a  I  Chron.  xv.  2,13,  15;  a  Chron.  v.  4;  xxxv.  3. 


UNSUSTAINED  DENIALS:  THE  PRIESTHOOD  345 

double  phrase  repeatedly  occurs,  we  find  the  actual 
arrangement  announced  (xxvii.  9,  12,  14)  for  the 
tribe  of  Levi  to  stand  with  the  other  tribes  at  Mount 
Gerizim,  and  for  the  "Levites,"  who  are  called 
in  verse  9 ' '  the  priests  the  Levites, ' '  to  speak  to  those 
tribes  with  a  loud  voice — thus  showing  the  distinc- 
tion and  separation. 

It  is  as  sound  a  literary  as  it  is  a  legal  maxim, 
that  all  brief  and  current  references  are  to  be  inter- 
preted by  the  full  and  definite  statements,  and  not 
contrariwise.  With  this  principle  in  mind  we  may 
dispense  with  a  wearisome  investigation  of  details, 
beyond  the  scope  of  this  discussion,  and  refer  to  an 
excellent  illustration  given  by  Bishop  Blomfield, 
and  lying  directly  within  the  ecclesiastical  domain. 
Now  in  Leviticus  we  have  the  high  priest,  the 
priests,  and  the  Levites ;  while  in  much  of  the  nar- 
rative we  have  summarily  "the  priests"  or  "the 
priests  the  Levites."  Dr.  Blomfield's  illustration 
is  this  :  "The  ordained  ministers  of  the  Church 
of  England  are  distinguished  in  the  Prayer  Book  as 
bishops,  priests  and  deacons ;  in  deeds  and  other 
legal  documents  they  are  described  as  clerks  in  holy 
orders ;  in  ordinary  literature  and  in  modern  acts 
of  Parliament  they  are  denominated  clergy  or 
clergymen ;  in  colloquial  'slang'  they  are  spoken 
of  as  parsons.  The  first-named  description  alone 
recognizes  their  distinctive  status  and  position ;  yet 
the  third  (clergy)  is  habitually  used  by  those  who 
are  well  aware  of  that  distinctive  character,  without 
any  confusion,  and  without  any  suspicion   that  th^ 


846  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

writers  are  ignorant  of  it.  When  it  is  remembered 
that  Deuteronomy  is  'the  people's  book,'  it  can 
cause  no  surprise  that  the  more  general  and  com- 
prehensive term,  corresponding  to  clergy,  should 
be  the  term  habitually  used." 

On  the  principles  of  sound  reasoning,  the  denials, 
both  of  the  separation  of  the  Levites  to  the  work 
of  the  sanctuary,  and  of  the  separation  of  the  Aaron- 
itic  priesthood  from  the  rest  of  the  Levites,  are  not 
sustained. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  CODES 

It  is  now  an  established  custom  to  speak  of  the 
Mosaic    legislation   as    consisting   of  three   codes, 
named  the  Covenant  Code  (Ex.  xx.-xxiii.,  xxxiv.), 
the  Deuteronomic  Code  and  the   Priest  Code,  ex- 
tending   from    Ex.    xxiv.,  with    minor  exceptions, 
through  Numbers.      This  grouping  is  rather  con- 
venient   and    popular    than    precise  and  scientific. 
Not  only  does  the  narrative  show  the  legislation  to 
be  a  protracted  process,  but  the  analysts  admit  the 
codes  to  be  more  or  less  interrupted  and  fragmen- 
tary.     Kuenen,  while  maintaining  the  general  unity 
of  each  code,  says  of  the  first  that  the  succession  is 
not  always  natural  and  regular,  but  that  some  of 
the   ordinances   break  the   context ;  of  the  second, 
that  the  order  of  succession  is  not  always  what  we 
might  have  expected,  and  cannot  (with  few  excep- 
tions) be  explained  by  later  insertions — his  standing 
resort;  and  of  the  third,  that  they  "do  not  form  a 
closed  and  ordered  whole ;  their  arrangement  leaves 
very  much  to  be  desired ;  some  of  the  ordinances 
or  groups  might  be  removed  without  any  percepti- 
ble void ;  some  of  them    have  the   appearance  of 
novellce;  and   in   some   cases  they  contradict  each 
other.'"     Dr.  Driver  makes  the  important  admis- 
sion in  regard  to  P  that  "even  of  the   incidents  in 

I  The  Hexateuch,  pp.  49,  50. 

847 


848  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

the  wilderness  many  appear  to  be  introduced  chiefly 
on  account  of  some  law  or  important  consequence 
arising  out  of  them,"  of  which  he  gives  a  dozen 
instances/  showing  that  the  legislation  was  some- 
what continuous,  or  rather  continued,  but  with  fre- 
quent interruptions.  Dr.  Hayman  has  called  atten- 
tion still  more  strongly  to  the  fragmentary  character 
of  the  Priest  Code :  "  It  is  not  a  code,  but  in  many 
parts  a  set  of  disconnected  injunctions  easily  ac- 
counted for  as  successive  legislations  made  as  oc- 
casion suggested  them  during  the  wandering,  in  re- 
gard to  which  we  can  in  some  instances  discern  the 
occasion,  and  anything  but  a  systematic  statute 
book  framed  by  a  set  of  otherwise  unoccupied 
priests."  After  giving  striking  illustrations,  too 
extensive  to  be  quoted  here,  he  proceeds:  "To 
call  it  the  Priest's  Code  was  hardly  a  happy  thought 
of  the  critics,  codification  being  precisely  the  ele- 
ment which  it  does  not  present.  This  condition  of 
things  naturally  and  perfectly  accords  with  its  his- 
toric origin,  and  as  completely  conflicts  with  the 
theory  of  its  deliberate  composition  by  a  body  of 
priests  at  their  leisure  drawing  up  a  code  of  laws 
for  the  people  returning  from  captivity.  It  also 
shows  even  more  strongl}^  the  devout  reverence 
with  v;hich  the  code  of  Moses  was  regarded,  that 
the  priests  did  not  venture  to  change  this  compara- 
tively heterogeneous  mass  of  precepts  into  an  or- 
derly system." 

Clearly  the  legislation,  while  more  or  less  con- 

3  Introduction,  p.  iig. 


THE  CODES  349 

tinuous  and  successive,  was  interrupted  and  related 
to  circumstances  and  occasions.  It  began  at  the 
exodus  with  the  law  of  the  passover,  founded  on 
the  events  then  occurring,  and  the  law  of  the  first- 
born for  a  similar  contemporaneous  reason.  Next, 
in  connection  with  the  manna,  came  the  re-enact- 
ment of  the  Sabbath  law.  In  the  third  month  there 
was  found  the  convenient  halting  place  and  the  lei- 
sure for  promulgating  the  fundamental  principles  of 
the  law  in  its  broader  and  deeper  relations  to  God 
and  man  ;  beginning  with  the  decalogue  as  the  basis 
of  all,  immediately  followed  by  certain  moral  pre- 
cepts, including  the  treatment  of  servants,  against 
violence,  manslaughter  and  murder,  in  regard  to 
accidental  injury,  kidnapping,  theft,  trespass,  bor- 
rowing and  lending,  personal  purity,  treatment  of 
the  stranger,  the  widow,  the  fatherless,  concerning 
bribery,  oppression  of  the  poor,  conduct  towards 
one's  enemy,  together  with  the  duty  of  observing 
the  great  religious  festivals,  and  offering  the  first 
fruits  of  everything  to  God.  These  primal  duties 
are  all  stated,  but  disconnectedly,  as  though  many 
of  them  were  evoked  and  recorded  on  the  occasions. 
The  section  closes  (xxiii.  20-23)  appropriately  with 
an  earnest  exhortation,  warning,  and  assurance  of 
the  Divine  blessing  on  obedience. 

This  group,  called  the  Covenant  Code,  naturally 
prepares  the  way  by  its  closing  declarations  for 
what  is  called  the  Priest  Code.  It  had  enjoined 
the  worship  of  God  and  the  observance  of  the  re- 
ligious festivals,  the  latter  in  anticipation  of  the  ex- 


850  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

pected  entrance  into  the  promised  land,  which  was 
not  yet  deferred  by  the  rebellion.^  Thus  naturally 
followed  the  summons  of  Moses,  Aaron,  Nadab 
and  Abihu,  and  the  seventy  elders,  to  a  solemn  act 
of  worship,  involving  the  building  of  an  altar,  the 
offering  of  sacrifices,  the  consecration  of  the  people, 
and  the  covenant.  The  appointment  of  the  great 
festivals  and  of  sacrifices  leads  naturally  to  the 
regular  provision  for  their  observance  as  established 
institutions,  the  modes  of  observance,  the  duties  of 
priests,  the  structure  and  arrangement  of  the  taber- 
nacle ;  in  short,  the  ritual  of  the  future,  the  so-called 
Priest  Code.  For  this  the  nine  months  at  Sinai 
were  sufficient,  elaborate  as  it  is.  The  vast  and 
complicated  Code  Napoleon  of  2,281  articles  was 
completed  and  promulgated  between  March  5, 1803, 
and  March  30,  1804.  Kuenen  is  constrained  to  ad- 
mit that  "in  itself  it  is  not  surprising  that  these 
regulations  in  Leviticus  i.-vi.  (in  regard  to  priests 
and  sacrifices)  should  precede  the  first  performance 
in  the  tabernacle  (Lev.  ix.),  and  even  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  priests,  which  itself  involved  certain  sac- 
rifices (Lev.  viii.)."  Of  course  not;  it  was  the 
proper  method. 

Inasmuch  as  the  Mosaic  code  was  promulgated 
in  different  portions,  and  sometimes  on  occasion  of 
definite  occurrences,  such  as  the  death  of  Nadab 
and  Abihu,  the  strife  and  the  blasphemy,  it  was  en- 
tirely natural  that  among  or  between  the  portions 
of  ceremonial   legislation  there   should    intervene 

3  Kautzsch  would  destroy  this  connection  by  breaking  in  on  four  solid  pages 
of  E  and  JE  with  the  assignment  of  six  verses  (Ex.  xxiii.  14-19)  to  K, 


THE  CODES  3§1 

many  moral  ordinances,  as  in  Leviticus  xviii.-xx., 
and  exhortations,  threats  and  promises,  as  in  Leviti- 
cus xxvi.  It  was  equally  natural,  if  not  inevitable, 
that  laws  of  permanent  force  should  be  mingled 
with  directions  limited  to  desert  life.  It  was  equally 
natural  also,  and  for  this  very  reason,  that  at  the 
close  of  the  wandering  and  after  the  changes  of 
forty  years,  there  should  be  modifications  intro- 
duced, especially  on  the  eve  of  entering  the  new 
and  permanent  home. 

Similar  and  far  greater  modifications  following 
changes  of  circumstances  could  be  cited.  An  illus- 
tration falling  under  the  immediate  observation  of 
the  present  writer  offers  itself  in  the  school  laws  of 
New  Hampshire,  growing  out  of  the  movement  of 
population  within  its  borders.  For  a  long  course 
of  years,  during  the  sparse  occupation  of  the  town- 
ships, there  was  what  was  called  the  town-school 
system.  Then,  as  the  population  spread  through 
the  townships,  came  the  district-school  system  ;  and 
within  a  few  years  past,  in  consequence  of  the  de- 
population of  the  outlying  territories  of  the  town- 
ships, has  come  a  return  to  the  township  method, 
and  with  it  a  system  in  many  respects  simpler  than 
the  one  which  it  displaced. 

As  the  Priest  Code,  so  called,  sprung  up  natur- 
ally with  the  full  establishment  of  the  worship,  as 
narrated,  so  the  Deuteronomic  Code  is  the  natural 
offspring  of  the  circumstances  stated  in  the  narra- 
tive, and  its  character  is  thoroughly  explained  by 
those  circumstances.     It  contains  the  last  solemn 


852  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

reminders,  tender  words  and  monitory  injunctions 
of  the  great  lawgiver  in  view  of  his  death.  Its 
loftiness  and  eloquence  have  always  been  recog- 
nized. But  it  is  important  to  observe  that  the  oc- 
casion and  purpose  control  the  character  of  what  is 
loosely  termed  the  code.  Dr.  Driver  shall  state  for 
us  its  purpose  and  spirit:  "In  so  far  as  it  is  a  law- 
book, Deuteronomy  may  be  described  as  a  manual 
which,  without  entering  into  technical  details  (al- 
most the  only  exception  is  xiv.  3-20,  which  explains 
itself),  would  instruct  the  Israelite  in  the  ordinary 
duties  of  life.  It  gives  general  directions  as  to  the 
way  in  which  the  annual  feasts  are  to  be  kept  and 
the  offerings  paid.  It  la3^s  down  a  few  fundamen- 
tal rules  concerning  sacrifice ;  for  a  case  in  which 
technical  skill  would  be  required  it  refers  to  the 
priests  (xxiv.  8).  It  prescribes  the  general  princi- 
ples by  which  the  family  and  domestic  life  is  to  be 
regulated,  specifying  a  number  of  cases  likely  to 
occur.  Justice  is  to  be  equally  and  impartially  ad- 
ministered. It  prescribes  a  due  position  in  the  com- 
munity to  the  prophet,  and  shows  how  even  a  mon- 
archy may  be  so  established  as  not  to  contravene 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  theocracy  (xvii. 
14  seq.).  Deuteronomy  is,  however,  mo7'e  than  a 
mere  code  of  lazvs;  it  is  the  expression  of  a  pro- 
found ethical  and  religious  spirit,  which  determines 
its  character  in  every  part.  The  principles  of  hu- 
man action  cannot  be  more  profoundly  stated  than 
is  here  done.  Nowhere  else  in  the  Old  Testament 
do  we  breathe  such  an  atmosphere  of  generous  de- 


THE  CODES  853 

votlon  to  God,  and  of  large-heartedness  towards 
man ;  nowhere  else  is  it  shown  with  the  same  full- 
ness of  detail  how  these  principles  may  be  made  to 
permeate  the  entire  life  of  the  community."  More 
is  said  to  the  same  effect. 

We  could  ask  no  better  vindication  of  the  view 
in  regard  to  Deuteronomy  which  Dr.  Driver  assails, 
its  time,  place,  and  authorship.  It  is  worthy  of  the 
devout  and  mighty  legislator  about  to  die.  It  is — 
or  rather  contains — but  a  general  rehearsal  of  the 
duties  of  the  Israelite, specifying  some  "cases  likely 
to  occur,"  and  referring  to  the  priests  for  matters 
of  "technical  skill,"  implying  the  established  priest- 
hood and  its  well-known  functions.  The  inculca- 
tion of  the  great  and  "true  principles  of  human 
action"  does  not  weaken  its  profound  impression 
by  a  preponderance  of  details.  Hence  the  book 
and  the  "code"  as  they  are;  and  its  freedom  from 
the  specializations  of  the  Levitical  law  not  only 
does  not  imply  its  earlier  origin,  but  naturally  pre- 
supposes those  details  to  supplement  its  broader 
and  simpler  injunctions. 

Hence  also,  as  the  closing  utterance  of  forty 
years,  the  reply  to  the  chief  difficulties  alleged, 
namely,  "variations"  from  other  portions  of  the 
Mosaic  legislation.  In  the  words  of  Driver,  "old 
enactments  are  repeated,  and  fresh  enactments  to 
meet  special  cases  are  added."  But  while  even  re- 
peals of  previous  ordinances  are  entirely  supposable, 
the  cases  actually  cited  as  "conflicts"  hardly  sus- 
tain the  assertion.      Some  of  them  are  general  ref- 


854  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

erences,  some  are  supplementary.  Take  the  first 
case  cited  by  Dr.  Driver,  with  his  own  italics :  "In 
Deuteronomy  language  is  used  implying  that  ftm- 
daiuental  institutions  of  P  are  tinhnown  to  the  author. 
Thus,  while  Lev.  xxv.  39-43  enjoins  the  release  of 
the  Hebrew  slave  in  the  year  of  Jubilee,  in  Deut. 
XV.  12-18  the  legislator,  withotit  bringing  his  new 
code  into  relation  with  the  different  one  of  Leviti- 
cus, prescribes  the  release  of  the  Hebrew  slave  in 
the  seventh  3^ear  of  his  service."  Here  is  no  con- 
flict. Both  laws  stand.  The  slave  is  still  to  be  re- 
leased at  the  Jubilee ;  now  it  is  added  that  he  shall 
be  released  at  the  end  of  his  seven  years'  service, 
whether  the  Jubilee  year  has  arrived  or  not.  There 
is  no  occasion  to  "bring  it  into  relation,"  although 
modern  legislators  go  through  the  form  of  "an  act 
supplementary  to  an  act."  The  case  of  the  priests 
and  Levites  has  been  already  discussed. 

Thus  the  legislation,  from  the  first,  follows  a  nat- 
ural order  entirely  consistent  with  the  history  that 
is  given  of  it :  A  beginning  made  on  the  way  to 
Sinai ;  at  Sinai,  during  the  long  halt,  a  code  of 
fundamental  principles  and  precepts ;  then  in  con- 
nection with  the  religious  cultus  there  was  orga- 
nized a  complete  system  of  ecclesiastical  officers 
and  ritual  observances,  all  the  legislation  contain- 
ing double  traces  of  the  transient  and  the  future 
home ;  after  forty  years  a  final  series  of  exhorta- 
tions and  warnings,  together  with  such  briefer  and 
more  general  references  to  the  earlier  legislation  as 
would  give  point  to  the  warnings,  and  some  modi- 


THE  CODES  355 

fications  after  the  lapse  and  trial  of  forty  years,  and 
in  immediate  prospect  of  the  new  home. 

Perhaps  a  few  words  should  be  said  as  to  the  im- 
practicability or  impossibility  of  such  an  imposition 
as  would  be  the  introduction  of  the  Priest's  Code  in 
Moses'  name  at  or  after  the  exile.  No  one  has  more 
keenly  ridiculed  the  theory  in  its  very  foundation 
conception  than  Klostermann.  At  a  time,  he  says 
in  substance,  when  for  centuries  the  Israelites  had 
been  visited  by  prophets  of  Jehovah  who  gained 
obedience  to  their  preaching  as  the  word  of  God, 
and  when  famous  prophets  had  reminded  the  peo- 
ple of  their  disobedience  to  what  was  known  to 
them  as  the  law  of  Moses,  why  should  this  pro- 
phetic man  draw  off  the  sure  garb  of  the  prophet 
and  put  on  the  paper  coat  of  Moses?  especially 
when  Moses  had  promised  prophets  like  unto  him- 
self? In  the  same  act  this  man  expresses  the  con- 
fidence that  the  name  of  Moses  can  give  authority 
to  his  claims,  and  the  disbelief  that  the  same  name 
can  give  authority  to  him  as  the  successor  of  Moses. 
And  inasmuch  as  Moses  was  the  acknowledged 
founder  of  the  whole  religious  polity  from  antiquity, 
what  hope  could  this  revolutionist  have  of  securing 
acceptance  for  his  widely  divergent  polity  by  attach- 
ing to  it  the  old  label?  And  why  would  not  his 
claims  be  resisted  by  those  whose  office  and  interest 
conflicted  with  them,  and  either  the  fraud  exposed, 
or  counter  claims  set  up?  "He  had  no  patent 
whereby  he  alone  could  falsify."  And  wh}^  should 
not  some  true   prophet   strip   off  the   mask  ?     The 


m  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

greater  the  number  in  the  enterprise,  the  greater 
the  danger  of  exposure.  "In  short,"  says  Klos- 
termann,  "as  is  the  resuU,  so  is  the  man,  incompre- 
hensible." 

These  and  other  insuperable  difficulties  may  be 
pressed  with  unhesitating  emphasis.  How  was  it 
possible  for  any  clique  or  combination  to  impose 
undisputed  on  the  whole  Jewish  people  a  burden- 
some code  of  laws  and  regulations,  newly  invented, 
as  having  come  steadily  down  from  the  remotest 
past?  The  nation  which  Moses  and  the  prophets 
had  always  found  a  "  stiff-necked"  people  must  have 
suddenly  become  a  whole  flock  of  lambs.  And  the 
exile  had  not  obliterated  all  knowledge  of  the  pre- 
vious conditions  and  customs.  Nor  could  a  small 
body  of  priests  have  absorbed  all  the  intelligence  of 
the  Hebrew  race.  Even  if  there  had  been  no  in- 
telligent questioner  or  objector  left  among  all  the 
returning  exiles,  it  has  been  well  asked,  why  did 
not  Sanballat  and  Tobiah  and  their  company,  ene- 
mies and  assailants  of  these  leaders,  instead  of  fruit- 
lessh'  fighting  them,  simply  expose  them?  The 
world's  history  does  not  present  the  parallel  of  such 
a  stupendous  imposition.  It  is  very  easy  for  in- 
genious and  recluse  scholars  to  devise  such  a 
chimera ;  but  not  all  the  scholarship  and  all  the 
statesmanship  of  Germany  could  convert  it  into  a 
reality. 

Equally  marvelous  would  have  been  the  skill  of 
the  imaginary  composition.  These  priests  were 
far  greater  romancers  than  Sir  Walter  Scott ;  for, 


THE  CODES  357 

with  all  his  native  knowledge  and  antiquarian  lore, 
he  was  guilty  of  occasional  lapses  in  regard  to  times 
not  more  remote  than  the  age  of  Elizabeth,  while, 
as  we  are  told,  "no  anachronism  is  traceable  in  the 
document'^  P. 

Furthermore,  what  a  magnanimous  company  of 
impostors  it  was,  to  introduce  a  scheme  that  left 
them  of  all  the  tribes  without  any  landed  possessions 
beyond  the  suburbs  of  the  villages  in  which  they 
were  to  reside ;  and  what  a  submissive  tribe  were 
the  Levites  as  a  body,  to  yield  without  a  murmur  to 
the  dictation  of  one  family  cutting  them  off  from 
their  lawful  share  of  the  land !  Still  further,  when 
this  body  of  priests,  by  the  power  of  combination, 
had  wrought  this  great  revolution,  what  a  singular 
fatuity  in  them  thenceforth  to  deprive  themselves 
of  the  power  of  further  combination  by  dispersing 
themselves  through  forty-eight  villages  of  Pales- 
tine !  Surely  our  critics,  who  begin  with  the  elimi- 
nation of  the  supernatural,  end  with  its  accumulation 
and  culmination. 


Four  things  may  be  said  in  conclusion : 

1.  No  book  in  the  world's  annals  was  ever  so 
embedded  in  the  literature,  institutions,  history, 
character  and  life  of  a  nation  as  the  Hexateuch. 

2.  The  assaults  upon  its  truthfulness  contain  a 
vast  amount  of  arbitrary  assumptions  and  denials, 
capricious  dislocations,  reconstructions  and  altera- 
tions  of   its  text,  scholastic    criticisms   of  popular 


858  THE  VERACITY  OF  THE  HEXATEUCH 

speech,  and  closet  speculations  ignoring  the  course 
of  human  life  and  action. 

3.  Its  literary  peculiarities  are  no  more,  its  ob- 
scurities and  difficulties  no  greater,  than  were  to  be 
expected  in  narratives  originating  at  the  time  and 
under  the  circumstances  historically  ascribed  to 
them,  are  mostly  susceptible  of  consistent  explana- 
tion, and  wholly  fail  to  invalidate  the  historic  view 
of  their  origin  and  character. 

4.  In  view  of  the  manifold,  cumulative,  and  con- 
vergent evidence,  and  with  due  allowance  for  vari- 
ations inevitable  during  the  transmission  from  so 
remote  an  antiquity,  the  fundamental  historic  ve- 
racity of  the  Hexateuch  remains  unshaken,  and  may 
be  as  frankly  and  implicitly  accepted  by  the  modern 
Christian  as  by  Christ  and  his  apostles  and  the 
saints  of  all  past  ages. 


APPENDIX 

Note  i.,  p.  5:  Professor  McCurdy's  statement  in 
the  Sunday  School  Times  of  May  11,  1S95,  ^^  worthy 
of  careful  perusal:  "  The  ruined  cities  of  Babylonia 
have  only  begun  to  give  up  their  longest  hidden  se- 
crets; but  already  we  have  learned  that  the  Mediterra- 
nean coast-land  was,  during  ancient  times  generally, 
under  the  control  of  the  empires  of  the  Tigris  and  the 
Euphrates.  To  Babylonia  is  due  in  large  measure  the 
formation  of  the  political  environment  of  Israel.  Many 
centuries  before  the  exodus  the  whole  western  region 
as  far  as  the  western  sea  was  leavened  by  its  material 
and  mental  culture.  It  was  sixteen  centuries  after  the 
first  recorded  expedition  from  Babylonia  to  the  West 
that  Abraham,  himself  an  emigrant  from  the  banks  of 
the  lower  Euphrates,  entered  the  land  of  promise.  It 
was  about  a  thousand  years  later(?)  that  the  Hebrews 
again  entered  Palestine  and  became  a  nation.  Seven 
centuries  is  the  outside  limit  of  their  residence  in  Ca- 
naan as  an  independent  nation.  During  the  latter  half 
of  this  period  they  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  Assyrians 
and  Babylonians.  Northern  Israel  was  abolished  by 
the  one,  southern  Israel  was  deported  by  the  other. 
.  .  .  The  anomalous  regime  of  the  Egyptians  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  was  possible  by 
reason  of  the  division  and  conflicts  of  Babylonia  and 
the  ambitious  daughter  state  Assyria.  Similar  con- 
ditions account  for  the  expansion  of  the  Hittites.  In 
the  same  way  Israel  in  Canaan  and  the  Aramean  prin- 
cipalities in  Syria  found  scope  and  opportunity  for  de- 
velopment, because  the  Assyrians,  having  become  once 
supreme  from  east  to  west,  relapsed  for  over  a  century 
into  feebleness  and  inaction.  The  book  of  Kings  is 
now  intelligible  throughout.  Viewed  from  our  pres- 
ent standpoint,  the  political  motive  of  the  whole  great 
stream  of  events  is  the  incessant  play  and   interaction 

359 


360  APPENDIX 

of  the  minor  currents  in  the  Palestinian  states  as  deter- 
mined in  direction  and  destiny  by  the  mightier  sweep 
of  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  enterprise." 

The  subject  is  further  unfolded  by  him  at  very  con- 
siderable length,  and  is  also  discussed  by  him  in  the 
volume,  "Recent  Research  in  Bible  Lands."  In  this 
volume  he  also  characterizes  the  results  of  Egyptolog- 
ical research :  "We  have  the  splendid  vindication  of 
the  accuracy  of  the  w^riter  of  the  account  of  Israel's  so- 
journ in  lower  Egypt.  What  is  said  in  Genesis  and 
Exodus  of  the  character  of  the  country,  its  government 
and  its  court,  and  the  customs  of  the  people,  are  shown 
to  be  pictures  faithfully  drawn  from  the  life. 
They  (the  Egyptian  records)  give  us  a  fairly  complete 
conception  of  that  eventful  era,  from  the  sixteenth  to 
the  thirteenth  century,  in  which  Palestine  was  being 
prepared  to  become  the  abode  of  the  chosen  people. 
They  demonstrate  how  the  result  of  the  conflict  (with 
Syria)  was  to  prevent  either  antagonist  from  perman- 
ently retaining  Palestine  for  itself,  and  how  it  was 
still  kept  as  a  land  of  promise  for  the  impending  occu- 
pation by  the  Hebrews." 

Note  ii.,  p.  lo:  The  tim.e  of  Sheshenk  or  Shishak 
(I.),  is  proximately  but  not  yet  exactly  settled.  Follow- 
ing Brugsch  (Hist,  of  Eg.,  Vol.  ii.,  p.  215),  I  assume 
the  date  of  his  accession  as  966  B.  C.  The  date  of  the 
exodus  may  for  the  present  be  assumed,  v/ith  Lepsius 
(Chronologic  der  Aegypter, p.  314, etc.),  Ebcrs  (Durch 
Gosen,  p.  525),  and  apparently  Poole  (Smith's  Die.  of 
the  Bible,  i.,  p.  591),  at  1314  B.  C.  ;  although  Bunsen 
would  make  it  1420  (Eg. PL, i., p.  493), as  would  Kuenen 
(Relig.  of  Is.  i.,  p.  121),  and  Brugsch  "  approximately" 
1300  (His.  Eg.,  i.,  p.  299).  From  the  exodus  in  1314 
forty  years  of  Moses'  life  and  twenty-five  of  Joshua's 
captaincy  (Josephus,  Antiq.,  v.,  i,  29)  would  extend 
down  to  1249  B.  C.  ;  and  thence  to  Shishak's  accession 
in  966  would  be  283  years.  But  from  Carver's  death 
to  1897  '^  -^7^  years,  a  difference  of  only   seven  years. 

Note  iii.,  p.  13  :  Theoretically,  and  in  a  general  way, 
Kautzsch  ascribes  the  book  to  J,  E,  P,  Dt,  R,  variously 


APPENDIX  361 

combined  and  therefore  involving  other  hands  engaged 
in  making  the  combinations.  But  the  number  and 
complications  are  somewhat  bewildering.  Thus  the 
twenty-four  chapters  present  the  following  permuta- 
tions: J  alone  occurs  but  once,  E  six  times,  R  lo,  P 
I,  ?  7,  Dt  19,  JE  20,  RE  4,  ER  i,  JEP  i,  (JEP)  3, 
(PJE)  I,  (JE)  6,  (Dt)  2,  JE  (R)  I,  (R)  i,  P  (R)  i,  R 
(P)  I,  R  (JE)  5.  The  parentheses  enlosing  the  letters, 
and  the  respective  positions,  before  or  after,  indicate 
different  supposed  relations  and  shades  of  influence 
discerned  by  the  analyst,  amounting  to  twenty  in  all. 
It  is  a  liberal  supply  of  resources. 

Note  iv.,  p. 24:  Judah's  territory  is  defined  as  bor- 
dered by  a  wilderness,  the  southern  "tongue"  of  the 
Salt  Sea,  a  brook,  a  sea,  an  "ascent,"  the  northern 
bay  of  the  Salt  Sea,  a  valley,  another  ascent,  the  "  stone 
of  Bohan,"  a  river,  the  waters  of  En-shemesh,  an- 
other valley,  another  valley,  a  mountain  top,  a  foun- 
tain, another  mountain,  still  another  and  another,  with 
a  terminus  on  the  great  (Mediterranean)  sea — in  part. 
It  specifies  thirteen  cities  along  the  line;  it  repeatedly 
mentions  the  direction  as  northward,  southv/ard,  west- 
ward;  in  three  instances  it  defines  the  place  mentioned 
by  a  second  or  alternative  name,  and  in  two  instances 
by  its  location;  and  in  following  the  line  it  twice  speci- 
fies how  it  "turned  about,"  six  times  how  it  "went 
up,"  once  how  it  "went  down,"  eight  times  how  it 
"passed  along,"  twice  how  it  "was  drawn,"  three 
times  it  "went  out"  or  terminated,  and  as  many  "go- 
ings out," — all  in  business  style. 

Note  v.,  p.  30:  As  matter  of  curious  interest  No- 
wairi's  account  is  here  given  from  the  translation  con- 
tained in  the  Quarterly  Statement  of  the  Palestine  Ex- 
ploration Fund,  July,  1895.  ^^^  sultan  of  the  narrative 
is  Beybars  I.  of  Egypt,  one  of  the  great  Mohammedan 
leaders.      This  is  the  account: 

"In  the  month  of  Jumad  the  First,  in  the  year  664, 
the  Sultan  issued  orders  for  the  building  of  a  bridge 
over  the  river  Jordan.  It  is  a  river  which  flows  through 
the    low-lying    valley   of   Syria,    which   is   called   the 


362  APPENDIX 

Sharieh.  The  bridge  is  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Damieh,  between  it  and  Kurawa,  and  there  happened 
in  connection  with  it  a  wonderful  thing,  the  like  of 
which  was  never  heard  of.  The  Sultan  charged  the 
Emir  Jamal  ed  Din  ibn  Nahar  with  the  erection  of 
the  bridge,  and  commanded  it  to  be  made  with  seven 
arches.  Officials  were  assembled  for  the  purpose,  and 
amongst  them  the  Emir  Bedr  ed  Din  Mohammed  ihr 
Rahal,  the  Governor  of  Nablous.  They  obtained  sup- 
plies, collected  workmen,  and  erected  the  bridge  as 
commanded  by  the  Sultan.  When  it  was  completed 
and  the  people  were  dispersed,  part  of  the  piers  gave 
way.  The  Sultan  was  greatly  vexed  and  blamed  the 
builders,  and  sent  them  back  to  repair  the  damage. 
They  found  the  task  very  difficult,  owing  to  the  rise 
of  the  waters  and  the  strength  of  the  current.  But  in 
the  night  preceding  the  dawn  of  the  17th  of  the  month 
Rabi  the  First  of  the  year  6G6  (8th  December,  A.  D. 
1267),  the  water  of  the  river  ceased  to  flow,  so  that 
none  remained  in  its  bed.  The  people  hurried  and 
kindled  numerous  fires  and  cressets,  and  seized  the 
opportunity  offered  by  the  occurrence.  They  remedied 
the  defects  in  the  piers  and  strengthened  them,  and 
effected  repairs  which  would  otherwise  have  been  im- 
possible. They  then  dispatched  mounted  men  to  as- 
certain the  nature  of  the  event  which  had  occurred. 
The  riders  mounted  their  horses  and  found  that  a  lofty 
mound  (Kabar)  which  overlooked  the  river  on  tlie 
west  had  fallen  into  it  and  dammed  it  up.  A  'Kabar' 
resembles  a  hill,  but  is  not  actually  a  hill,  for  water  will 
quickly  disintegrate  it  like  unto  mud.  The  water  was 
held  up,  and  had  spread  itself  over  the  valley  above 
the  dam.  The  messengers  returned  with  this  ex- 
planation, and  the  water  was  arrested  from  midnight 
until  the  fourth  hour  of  the  day.  Then  the  water  pre- 
vailed upon  the  dam  and  broke  it  up.  The  water 
floated  down  in  a  body  equal  in  depth  to  the  length  of 
a  lance,  but  made  no  impression  upon  the  building 
owing  to  the  strength  given  to  it.  The  water  carried 
away  the  apparatus  used  in  the  work  of  repairs.     The 


APPENDIX  863 

occurrence  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  of  events,  and 
the  bridge  is  in  existence  to  this  day." 

M.  Clermont-Ganneau  (or  his  representative,  Col. 
Watson)  thinks  that  Novvairi's  account  "bears  the  evi- 
dence of  the  truth  on  the  face  of  it,"  and  that  he  could 
have  no  knowledge  of  the  miracle  related  in  the  Bible. 
An  explanatory  statement  is  given  by  the  translator: 
"  In  a  district  east  of  Beisan,  and  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
miles  south  of  the  sea  of  Galilee,  the  river  passes 
through  what  might  be  described  as  a  gorge  through 
steep  banks  of  marl,  sometimes  nearly  perpendicular, 
which  on  the  right  or  left  bank  exceed  150  feet  in 
height.  These  marly  banks  are  frequently  undermined 
by  the  water  and  fall  in,  making  it  dangerous  to  ap- 
proach the  river  in  times  of  flood."  "The  point  in- 
dicated above,  east  of  Beisan  and  about  twenty-five 
miles  above  Damieh,  is  just  the  place  where  such  an 
accident  would  be  most  likely  to  occur." 

Note  vi.,  p.  51  :  Dillmann,  in  his  comment  on  Ex. 
ix.  31,  cites  various  authorities  on  the  time  of  year  in- 
volved in  the  condition  of  the  crops  specified  in  that 
verse,  when  the  plague  of  the  hail  occurred,  and  reaches 
the  result  that  it  was  in  January.  So  also  Strack.  But 
this  was  the  seventh  of  the  plagues,  and  the  remaining 
three  were  not  completed  till  the  full  moon  of  Nisan, 
March  or  April. 

Of  the  threatened  and  recorded  effects  of  the  hail, 
namely,  the  destruction  of  men  and  animals,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  accumulate  instances.  Though  rare,  well 
authenticated  cases  are  on  record  as  having  occurred 
in  Asia,  Europe  and  America.  The  present  writer 
encountered  a  hail-storm  of  a  much  milder  and  briefer 
description  in  Cairo,  December  18,  1873.  It  rained  at 
intervals  throughout  the  afternoon,  and  though  the  hail 
fell  briskly  but  about  two  minutes,  the  weather  was 
so  boisterous  that  few  went  on  the  streets  unless  com- 
pelled to  do  so,  and  the  dancing  dervishes  omitted  their 
customary  performance. 

Note  vii.,  p.  52:  Thus  much  is  unquestionably 
contained  in  the  statement  in  Ex.  xiii.  18,  rendered  in 


864  APPENDIX 

the  R.  V.  "went  up  armed,"  notwithstanding  a  slight 
diversity    in    the    precise    rendering    of    the    Hebrew 

U  vPD,  which  occurs  only  in  this  passage,  Josh.  i. 
14,  iv.    12,  Judg.  vii.  II  ;  and  in  Josh.  iv.    12  appears 

to  be  exchanged  for  u  1J7D  in  verse  13.     The  Septua- 

gint  shows  in  these  passages  alike  the  work  of  different 
translators  and  the  slight  uncertainty  in  their  minds, 
rendering  in  Exodus  7:iixT.T7j  yv^za  ^  in  Josh.  i.  14  ewCwvof, 
in  Josh.  iv.  12  dieaxeuaffixivot^  and  in  Judg.  vii.  11  raiv 
TzsvTijy.ovra.  The  Vulgate  has  "armed,"  supported  by 
Symmachus,  Aquila,  and  (according  to  Gesenius)  the 
Syriac  and  Targum.  Gesenius  renders  a  little  loosely, 
"fierce,  active,  eager,  brave  in  battle";  Fuerst, 
"equipped,  ready  for  battle,  armed";  Ewald  (Gesch- 
ichte,  II.,  p.  98),  "  in  complete  battle  array"  (though 
in  his  note  more  exactly,  from  a  theoretical  derivation, 
"in  five  divisions,"  quinquefied);  Keil,  "ready, 
equipped,  drawn  up  for  battle";  De  Wette  and  Strack, 
"geruestet";  Dillmann,  "  kampfgeruestet."  Whichever 
of  these  forms  is  adopted,  all  agree  with  the  necessary 
implication  of  the  several  passages  that  there  was  an 
orderly  preparation  for  the  march,  something  more 
even  than  going  "by  their  hosts." 

Note  viii.,  p.  55:  M.  Naville  would  find  Migdol  in 
a  supposed  fortress  near  the  present  Serapeum,  Pi- 
hahiroth  in  Pikeret  (a  word  found  on  a  monument  of 
Rameses  II.,  and  also  in  the  tablet  of  Philadelphos), 
which  he  conjectures  to  designate  a  place  northwest  of 
it  near  Pithom,  and  Baal -zephon,"  some  hill  like  Shekh 
Ennedek,  on  the  Asiatic  side."  (Store  City  of  Pithom, 
pp.  26,  25.)  This  theory  places  the  crossing  north  of 
the  Bitter  Lakes.  Dr.  Dawson  puts  it  south  of  them, 
at  a  point  between  the  railway  stations  Fayid  and 
Geneffe,supposing  Pi-hahiroth  at  "some  inconsiderable 
ancient  ruins  near  that  place,"  Migdol  not  a  fortress 
but  a  watch  tower  on  a  commanding  height,  which  he 
would  designate  as  the  western  peak  Jebel  Shebremet, 
more  than  500  feet  high,  and  Baal-zephon  as  Jebel 
Musheikh,  the  prominent  northern  point  of  Jebel   er 


APPENDIX  365 

Rahah    opposite    in    the    Arabian    desert.     (Modern 
Science  in  Bible  Lands,  pp.  388-901.) 

The  strongest  argument  for  the  former  extension  of 
the  Red  Sea  to  the  Bitter  Lakes,  in  historic  times,  is 
M.  Naville's  supposed  discovery,  by  two  Latin  in- 
scriptions at  Pithom,  that  Pithom  was  also  the  Roman 
Hierapolis,  and  that  it  was  but  nine  miles  from  Clysma 
on  the  Sea.  But  since  the  Itinerary  of  Antonine  states 
the  distance  at  sixty  miles,  M.  Naville  is  "compelled 
to  admit  that  one  of  the  documents  is  wrong."  He 
decides  for  the  inscriptions.  But  as  one  of  these  was 
in  a  calcareous  wall  (the  place  of  the  other  not  men- 
tioned), they  may  not  be  in  their  original  place;  and 
moreover,  one  is  dated  about  306  A.  D. ;  and  besides, 
the  shrinkage  of  the  Red  Sea  would  be  brought  to  a 
comparatively  recent  date.  The  identification  and 
proximity  to  Clysma  must  be  considered  not  absolutely 
proven. 

On  the  other  side  the  present  separation  of  the  Gulf 
of  Suez  (except  as  connected  by  the  canal)  from  the 
northern  lakes  by  such  elevations  of  land,  which  M. 
Mauriac,  engineer  of  the  Suez  Canal,  considers  to  be  a 
tertiary  formation,  must  be  considered  a  somewhat 
formidable  objection.  And  this  elevation  would  there- 
fore have  had  to  take  place  since  A.  D.  306.  That 
such  an  elevation  has  taken  place  during  that  period, 
or  since  the  exodus,  is  a  thing  for  which  one  would 
certainly  desire  some  definite  basis  of  known  fact. 

Note  ix.,  p.  64:  We  assume  without  discussion 
Jebel  Musa  to  be  Sinai,  and  Sufsafeh  the  peak  from 
which  the  law  was  proclaimed.  The  Ordnance  Survey 
would  seem  to  have  settled  it, — certainly  for  any  one 
who  has  been  over  the  ground  and  made  careful  inves- 
tigations on  the  spot,  and  with  the  different  theories 
in  mind.  Serbal,  once  advocated  by  respectable  au- 
thorities (Ebers  and  Lepsius),  clearly  does  not  answer 
the  conditions.  The  writer  climbed  the  mountain  and 
examined  the  adjacent  valleys,  Ajaleh  and  Aleyat.  It 
might  not  be  an  insuperable  objection  that  the  mountain 
is  extremely  difficult  of  ascent;  but  these  two  nearest 


866  APPENDIX 

wadies  are  not  only  too  remote  for  hearing  from  the 
mountain  or  for  close  approach,  but  they  are  compara- 
tively small  in  extent,  and  at  present  so  covered  w^ith 
boulders  and  cut  up  by  winter  torrents  as  hardly  to 
afford  room  in  either  of  them  for  a  dozen  tents. 

Equally  it  seemed  to  the  writer  that  at  Jebel  Musa, 
the  wady  Sebaiyeh  could  not  have  been,  as  some  have 
supposed  (Kurtz, Ritter,F.  A.  Strauss  and  even  Tisch- 
endorf),  the  place  of  assembling,  on  the  south  side 
of  the  mountain,  instead  of  Er  Rahah  on  the  north 
side,  for  several  conclusive  reasons:  its  small  size,  be- 
ing but  one  hundred  and  forty-five  acres,  as  we  found 
by  actual  measurement;  its  surface  covered  with  sharp^ 
rough  stones,  affording  no  good  camping  place  or  even 
standing  place,  while  Er  Rahah  is  entirely  clear;  its 
separation  from  Jebel  Musa  by  Jebel  Sebaiyeh,  some 
eight  hundred  feet  high,  whereas  Er  Rahah  comes  to 
the  foot  of  Ras  Sufsafeh ;  its  entire  lack  of  water  (ex- 
cept when,  as  apearances  indicate,  the  heavy  rains 
sweep  over  it),  all  the  springs  being  on  the  northern 
side  of  the  mountain. 

Note  X.,  p,  65:  Ain  Gadiz  has  been  singularly 
difficult  of  discovery  and  examination.  The  great 
weight  of  Dr.  Robinson's  opinion  had  been  cast  in 
favor  of  Ain  el  Weibeh  in  the  Arabah,  as  many  as 
forty  miles  to  the  northeast.  Rev.  John  Rowlands  in 
1842  succeeded  in  finding  the  fountain  Ain  Gadiz, 
which  he  enthusiastically  described.  Though  attention 
and  favorable  opinion  were  drawn  to  this  identification, 
no  traveler  was  able  to  visit  the  place,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  it  is  in  the  territory  of  the  Azazimeh  Arabs, 
a  degraded,  jealous  and  violent  tribe,  and  the  sheiks 
of  the  Tiyahah  tribe  feared  and  refused  to  conduct 
travelers  to  it.  Mr.  Holland  and  Dr.  Schaff  were 
unable  to  go  there,  even  Professor  Palmer  was  refused 
by  his  sheik,  and  the  present  writer  was  taken  by  the 
same  sheik  to  a  wrong  place,  Ain  Guseimeh  ("  Qasay- 
meh,"  Trumbull),  a  notable  watering  place,  which 
Sheik  Soleiman  solemnly  persisted  in  declaring  to  be 
Ain  Gadiz.      Mr.    H.  C.  Trumbull    was   fortunate    in 


APPENDIX  36T 

finding  the  two  older  and  wily  sheiks  disabled  fronn 
being  his  guides,  and  in  inducing  the  young  Sheik 
Hamdh,  by  means  of  descriptions  contained  in  Bart- 
lett's  "Egypt  to  Palestine,"  to  conduct  him  to  the 
genuine  Ain  Gadiz.  He  describes  it  as  an  oasis  of 
verdure  and  beauty ;  a  carpet  of  grass  covering  the 
ground,  fig-trees  laden  with  nearly  ripe  fruit,  shrubs 
and  flowers  in  variety  and  profusion,  running  water 
gurgling  under  the  grass,  and  on  the  northeastern  side 
a  single  mass  or  spur  of  solid  rock  from  underneath 
which  "issued  the  now  abundant  stream."  The  water 
flowed  first  into  a  large  stoned  well  of  primitive  work- 
manship, near  which  was  a  marble  watering  trough; 
then  another  and  larger  well  and  a  trough,  and  then  a 
large  basin  or  pool,  seemingly  the  principal  watering 
place,  and  the  appearance  around  as  though  it  had  been 
frequented  by  flocks  and  herds  for  centuries.  "  An- 
other and  larger  pool,  lower  down  the  slope,  was  sup- 
pled with  water  which  rippled  and  cascaded  along  its 
narrow  bed  from  the  upper  pool;  and  yet  beyond  this 
westward  the  water  gurgled  away  under  the  grass,  as 
v/e  had  met  it  when  we  came  in,  and  finally  lost  itself 
in  the  parching  wady  from  which  this  oasis  opened. 
The  water  itself  was  remarkably  pure  and  sweet,  un- 
equaled  by  any  we  had  found  since  leaving  the  Nile." 
The  description  is  given  (abbreviated)  in  the  words  of 
Trumbull,  "  Kadesh  Barnea,"  pp.  272-4.  The  visit  was 
brief  and  his  notes  "hurried,"  but  of  great  value.  It 
is  extremely  desirable  that  a  more  protracted  examina- 
tion, not  only  of  the  fountain  but  of  its  surroundings 
and  eastern  and  southeastern  connections,  should  be 
made  as  soon  as  possible. 

Note  xi.,  p.  6^\  Professor  Palmer  suggests  the 
eleven  days'  stages  thus:  i.  To  Kibroth  Hattaavah, 
which  he  would  find  at  Erweis  el  Ebeirig;  2,  to  Haz- 
eroth,  placed  by  him,  with  Robinson  and  Stanley,  at 
Ain  Huderah,  eighteen  hours  from  Sinai ;  3,  4,  5,  three 
days'  journey  for  the  modern  traveler  towards  Akabah  ; 
6,  to  Elath  (Akabah);  7,  to  Ezion  Gaber  (Diana  of 
the  Peutinger  tables),  14^  miles;  8,  Rasa  of  the  tables, 


866  APPENDIX 

141/^  miles;  9,  to  Gypsaria  of  the  tables,  the  present 
Contellet  Garayeh,  14^  miles;  10,  to  Lysa  of  the 
tables,  modern  Lussan,  26]^  miles;  11,  to  Ain  Cadiz 
(apparently  about  14  miles).  (Desert  of  the  Exodus, 
pp.  422,  514.) 

Note  xii.,  p.  74 :  A  body  of  laws  devised  by  a 
company  of  priests  who  felt  themselves  at  liberty  to 
legislate  for  the  restored  Israel,  says  Dr.  Hayman, 
"  should  show  features  of  plan,  symmetry  and  order 
pervading  it.  The  Priestly  Code,  as  our  critics  prefer 
to  call  this  ill-digested  mass,  the  Levitical  coi-pus  juris^ 
is  conspicuously  defective  in  these  characteristics. 
Take  as  a  test  sample  the  book  of  Leviticus  itself,  the 
most  homogeneous  of  the  whole  and  the  one  least 
charged  with  the  historical  element.  On  looking  at 
the  larger  members  and  the  earlier  portions  of  its  dis- 
located structure,  we  see  an  attempt  at  method  too  soon 
abandoned  and  forgotten  in  the  result.  I  cannot  claim 
space  to  analyze  it  thoroughly,  but  will  exemplify  from 
that  inner  section  (to  which,  from  the  recurrence  of 
some  fixed  phrases,  containing  the  word  'holy'  as  their 
key,  the  name  'Law  of  Holiness'  has  lately  been  given), 
reaching  from  chapter  xvii.  (or  xviii.)  to  xxv.  inclusive. 
Of  these,  chapter  xvii.  contains  hardly  any  of  the  pe- 
culiar phrases.  The  critics,  however,  include  it.  But 
the  close  of  a  previous  chapter,  xi.,  in  verses  44  and 
45,  has  them  very  markedly,  and  is  therefore  a  detached 
member  of  the  group  which  I  am  considering.  Chap- 
ter xix.,  headed  in  our  A.  V.  'A  repetition  of  sundry 
laws,'  is  a  mass  of  unconnected  precepts,  lacking 
moreover  coherence  with  what  precedes  and  follows. 
Chapter  xx.  is  not  such  a  cento  of  shreds,  but  of  its  sec- 
tions some  repeat  previous  laws,  others  affix  penal 
consequences  to  acts  already  forbidden.  In  a  digest 
one  would  expect  prohibition  and  penalty  to  come  to- 
gether. If  chapters  xxiii.  and  xxv.  were  consecutive 
we  should  have  in  them  a  tolerably  complete  summary 
of  the  law  of  holy  times  and  seasons.  But  chapter  xxv. 
diverges  into  the  redemption  of  landed  estates,  and 
especially  those  of  the  poor  Israelite  and   the   Levite, 


APPENDIX  369 

connected,  however,  by  the  year  of  Jubilee  and  its 
privileges,  with  the  main  subject.  But  wedged  uneasily 
between  the  two  chapters  we  have  chapter  xiv.,  itself 
miscellaneous,  beginning  with  the  sanctuary,  its  lamps, 
their  oil,  etc.,  then  diverging  into  blasphemy,  and  em- 
bedding a  lex  talionis  between  the  sentence  on  the 
blasphemer  and  his  execution.  As  regards  repetitions, 
the  law  of  keeping  the  Sabbath  Day  occurs  some  five 
or  six  times  in  this  book  only,  to  say  nothing  of  other 
mention  of  it  in  other  books.  After  twice  prohibiting, 
as  it  were  incidentally, the  eating  of  blood, or  flesh  with 
the  blood,  in  chapters  iv.  17,  vii.  26,  27,  we  have  the 
statement  of  the  principle  emphatically  united  with  the 
same  precept  in  chapter  xvii.  10-14,  the  precept  itself 
further  recurring  in  chapter  xix.  26,  as  well  as  three  or 
four  times  in  Deuteronomy ;  besides  the  original 
prohibition  to  Noah  in  Gen.  ix,  4.  Similarly,  eating 
'that  which  dieth  of  itself  is  forbidden  in  this  book 
thrice,  besides  one  each  in  Exodus  and  Deuteronomy." 

Dr.  Hayman,  having  thus  examined  sections, observes 
that  the  distribution  of  almost  any  subject  yields  the 
same  result.  He  pointedly  inquires,  "Is  it  conceivable 
that  they  (the  supposed  company  of  organizing  scribes) 
would  have  bequeathed  to  their  successors  such  a  maze 
of  jurisprudence  as  the  Pentateuchal,"  and  he  confi- 
dently affirms  that  the  theory  leaves  this  striking  feature 
of  the  legislation  "utterly  inexplicable.  It  subverts 
that  primary  instinct  of  order  which  governs  the  hu- 
man mind,  and  that  precisely  at  the  time  when  it  should 
be  paramount."     His  entire  article  is  weighty. 

Note  xiii.,  p.  79:  That  the  reader  may  see  that  there 
is  no  exaggeration  in  these  statements,  Erman's  brief 
account  of  a  part  of  the  jewelry  found  on  the  body  of 
Queen  Ahhotep  is  here  submitted:  "The  fineness  of 
the  gold  work,  and  the  splendid  coloring  of  the  enamels, 
are  as  admirable  as  the  tasteful  forms  and  the  certainty 
of  the  technique.  Amongst  them  is  a  dagger,  on  the 
dark  bronze  blade  of  which  are  symbolical  representa- 
tions of  war,  a  lion  rushing  along,  and  some  locusts, 
all  inlaid  in  gold ;  in  the  wooden  handle   are   inserted 


870  APPENDIX 

three-cornered  pieces  of  precious  metal ;  three  female 
heads  in  gold  form  the  top  of  the  handle,  while  a  bull's 
head  of  the  same  precious  metal  conceals  the  place 
where  the  handle  and  blade  unite.  The  sheath  is  of 
gold.  One  beautiful  axe  has  a  gilded  bronze  blade,  the 
central  space  being  covered  with  the  deepest  blue  en- 
amel, on  which  King  Ahmes  is  represented  stabbing 
an  enemy;  above  him  a  griffin,  the  emblem  of  swift- 
ness, hastens  past.  The  handle  of  the  axe  is  of  cedar 
wood  plated  with  gold,  and  upon  it  the  names  of  the 
king  are  inlaid  in  colored  precious  stones.  Gold  wire 
is  used  instead  of  the  straps  which  in  ordinary  axes 
bind  the  handle  and  the  blade  together.  Perliaps  the 
most  beautiful  of  these  precious  things,  however,  is 
the  golden  breast-plate  in  the  form  of  a  little  Egyptian 
temple.  King  Ahmes  is  standing  in  it;  Amon  and  R^ 
pour  water  over  him  and  bless  him.  The  contours  of 
the  figures  are  formed  with  fine  strips  of  gold,  and  the 
spaces  between  them  are  filled  in  with  paste  and  colored 
stones.  This  technique,  now  called  cloisonne,  the 
same  which  has  been  carried  to  such  perfection  by  the 
Chinese,  was  often  employed  by  the  Egyptians  with 
great  taste.  The  illustration  heading  this  chapter 
(xviii.  in  the  book)  gives  a  good  illustration  of  the 
character  of  the  work,  but  it  is  impossible  to  represent 
the  brilliance  of  the  enamel,  and  the  beauty  of  the 
threads  of  gold  that  divide  the  partitions." 

These  are  but  specimens  of  a  very  considerable  col- 
lection, in  all  which  gold  is  the  precious  metal,  with 
one  exception  (so  far  as  the  present  writer  recalls)  :  a 
boat  of  solid  gold,  twelve  rowers  of  silver,  the  boat 
being  mounted  on  a  wooden  truck  with  bronze  wheels. 
The  Dashur  collection  is  understood  to  be  quite  as  ex- 
tensive. The  art  of  gilding  was  also  extensively 
practiced,  apparently  as  earl}^  as  the  Middle  Empire  in 
some  degree,  and  much  more  in  later  times.  (Erman, 
p.  462.) 

Note  xiv.,  p.  104:  To  illustrate  a  little  further  the 
force  of  Mr.  Poole's  reasoning,  an  additional  extract  is 
given :     "  If  the  Hebrew  documents  are  of  the  close  of 


APPENDIX  871 

the  period  of  the  kings  of  Judah,  how  is  it  that  they 
are  true  of  the  earlier  condition,  not  of  that  which  was 
contemporary  with  those  kings'^  Why  is  the  Egypt 
of  the  Law  markedly  different  from  the  Egypt  of  the 
prophets,  each  condition  being  described  consistently 
with  its  Egyptian  records,  themselves  contemporary 
with  the  events?  Why  is  Egypt  described  in  the  Law 
as  one  kingdom,  and  no  hint  given  of  the  break-up  of 
the  empire  into  the  small  principalities  mentioned  by 
Isaiah  (xix.  2)?  Why  do  the  proper  names  belong  to 
the  Ramesside  and  earlier  age,  without  a  single  in- 
stance of  those  Semitic  names  which  came  into  fashion 
with  the  Bubastic  line  in  Solomon's  time?  Why  do 
Zoan-Rameses  and  Zoar  take  the  place  of  Migdol  and 
Tahpanhes?  Why  are  the  foreign  mercenaries,  such 
as  the  Lubim,  spoken  of  in  the  constitution  of  Egyp- 
tian armies  in  the  time  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  wholly 
unmentioned?  The  relations  of  Egypt  with  foreign 
countries  are  not  less  characteristic.  The  kingdom  of 
Ethiopia,  which  overshadowed  Egypt  from  before 
Hezekiah's  time  and  throughout  his  reign,  is  unmen- 
tioned in  the  earlier  documents.  The  earlier  Assyrian 
empire,  which  rose  for  a  time  on  the  fall  of  the  Egyp- 
tian,  nowhere  appears." 

The  entire  article  is  a  powerful  argument,  deserving 
a  careful  perusal.  It  is  at  the  same  time  careful  and 
candid.  He  remarks  that  "  the  date  of  Deuteronomy  is 
a  separate  question,"  and  adds:  "  Leaving  this  problem 
aside,  the  early  age  of  the  first  four  books  does  un- 
questionably involve  great  dithculties,  but  not  nearly 
so  great  as  the  hypotheses  of  late  date  when  they  are 
confronted  with  the  Egyptian  records." 

In  a  note  he  makes  a  statement  concerning  Deu- 
teronomy worth  quoting :  "  The  lamented  Deutsch, 
remarkable  among  Hebraists  for  his  acute  literary 
perception,  remarked  to  the  writer  that  he  could  not 
explain  the  origin  of  Deuteronomy  on  any  other  hy- 
pothesis than  its  original  Mosaic  authorship,  redaction 
being  enough  to  account  for  its  peculiarities.  This 
opinion  may  not  have  been  maintained,  and   therefore 


872  APPENDIX 

it  is  merely  stated  as  a  remarkable  hint  thrown  out  in 
conversation.  Many  scholars  would  not  believe  that 
Deutsch  could  have  held  the  view  for  a  moment;  this 
is  why  the  recollection  deserves  to  be  put  on   record." 

Note  XV.,  p.  132:  Lefevre  proceeds  thus:  "Sepa- 
rated from  these  Egypto-Semites  by  the  Himalaya  and 
the  desert,  slowly  increasing  tribes  of  white  men,  part 
shepherds  and  part  agriculturists,  monogamous,  wor- 
shipers of  the  heavenly  bodies,  gradually  under  the 
pressure  of  the  Mongols  leave  their  common  country, 
forgetting  each  other  as  they  travel,  but  retaining  their 
idioms  and  their  acquired  culture  exactly  in  the  f7'o- 
portion  of  their  increasing  distaiice.  The  Celts  are 
driven  westward  by  the  Gauls,  the  Gauls  by  the  Ger- 
mans, these  by  the  Slavs  and  the  Lithuanians,  them- 
selves urged  forward  and  finally  overrun  by  the  Mon- 
gols and  the  incursion  of  the  Huns.  The  future 
Hindus  are  already  making  their  way  among  the  afflu- 
ents of  the  Indus.  Lastly,  the  Greeks  and  Latins, 
passing  south  of  the  Celts,  Germans  and  Slavs,  and 
north  of  the  Semitic  world,  follow  the  right  bank  of 
the  Danube,  and  one  stream  of  them  flows  towards 
Thrace  and  Thessaly,  the  other  towards  the  Tiber. 
The  Iranians  alone  remain,  harassed  by  the  continual 
attacks  of  the  Turks ;  they  reach  Media,  Persia,  con- 
quer and  take  possession  of  the  old  Semitic  empires, 
and  come  into  collision  in  Ionia  and  at  Marathon  with 
their  old  neighbors  now  forgotten,  with  the  Hellenes, 
already  masters  of  the  Mediterranean  basin.  This 
large  and  simple  view  gives  the  true  meaning  of  his- 
tory." It  unwittingly  conforms  in  a  remarkable  degree 
not  only  to  the  recorded  fact  of  the  dispersion  from 
near  the  center  described,  but,  as  may  appear  later, 
with  the  Scripture  account  of  the  lines   of   dispersion. 

Note  xvi.,  p.  150:  Rawlinson  adopts  the  identifi- 
cation of  the  Kimmerii,  in  their  descendants,  with  the 
Cimbri  and  the  Cymry  (or  Welsh)  and  also  with  the 
Cambri,  as  they  were  designated  by  the  Romans,  and 
would  recognize  the  same  fundamental  name  in  Cum- 
berland.  The  Roman  historians, it  will  be  remembered, 


APPENDIX  373 

called  the  modern  Jutland  by  the  name  Chersonesus 
Cimbrica. 

If  we  might  safely  follow  Rawlinson's  guidance,  in 
parts  of  which  he  finds  support  in  other  authorities,  the 
successive  movements  of  the  races  westward  across 
Europe  would  become  somewhat  obvious.  For  he  finds 
the  Celts  among  the  descendants  of  the  Kimmerii,  and 
(supported  by  Niebuhr  and  Boeckh)  the  Slavs  among 
the  Scythian  descendants  of  Magog, the  Teutons  among 
the  descendants  of  the  Thracians,  whom  he  identifies 
with  Tiras,  locating  the  latter  on  the  Bosporus,  partly 
west  of  it.  We  should  then  see,  not  only  as  we  do, 
Javan  pushing  gradually  and  surely  along  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  Greece  and  Italy,  and  Magog,  as  is  admitted, 
driving  Gomer  northv/est  beyond  the  Euxinc,  but 
remaining  in  permanent  possession  as  the  Slavic  race, 
and  the  Teutonic  descendants  of  Tiras  pressing  their 
way  westerly  like  a  wedge  between  the  now  established 
Slavs  and  their  driven  predecessors,  the  Celts,  until 
the  latter  were  forced  to  the  coasts  of  the  Atlantic. 
But  the  view,  however  attractive,  is  in  two  of  its  stages 
too  precarious  at  present  to  adopt  with  any  confidence. 

Note  xvii.,  p.  156:  The  classical  student  does  not 
need  to  be  reminded  of  Ovid's  description,  Metamor. 
i.,  242,  seq.  It  is  noticeable  how  distinct  Is  the  account 
of  the  flood  given  by  Lucian,  who  repeatedly  declares 
it  to  be  Greek  tradition.  Thus  (De  Syria  Dea,  12) 
he  relates  that  the  former  race  of  men  were  destroyed 
for  their  extreme  wickedness  ;  that  the  earth  gave  forth 
water,  great  rains  fell,  the  rivers  rose,  the  sea  swelled, 
till  all  things  became  water,  and  all  men  perished. 
Deucalion  alone  was  saved  for  his  piety.  He  built  a 
great  ark  (Aa/?va?),  entered  it  with  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, brought  in  by  pairs  hogs,  horses,  lions,  serpents, 
and  all  other  creatures,  and  remained  there  with  them 
in  a  divinely  established  friendship  so  long  as  the 
waters  prevailed. 

Note  xviii.,  p.  183:  The  older  tables  of  great  lon- 
gevity have  been  justly  criticised  as  resting  often  on 
insufficient  evidence.     Such  appears  to  have  been  the 


374  APPENDIX 

case  with  that  given  by  Prichard  in  his  "  Natural  His- 
tory of  Man"  (1843).  He  gives,  after  Mr.  Easton,  the 
following  list  of  persons  who  had  attained  the  ages 
attached:  From  the  age  of  100  to  no  inclusive,  1,310 
persons;  from  1 10  to  120  years,  267;  from  120  to  130 
years,  84;  from  130  to  140,  26;  from  140  to  150,  7; 
from  150  to  160,  3;  from  160  to  170,  2;  from  170  to 
180,  3.  On  the  other  hand,  in  1873  W.  J.  Thoms, 
Deputy  Librarian  of  the  British  House  of  Lords,  pub- 
lished a  book  on  "Human  Longevity,"  in  which  he 
examined  and  justly  objected  to  the  evidence  on  which 
very  many  of  these  instances  rested ;  but  he  went  to 
the  extreme  of  inclining  to  assign  to  the  region  of 
fiction  all  or  nearly  all  cases  of  alleged  age  greater  than 
105.  Zoeckler  in  his  "  Urstand  des  Menschen"  (pp.  249 
seq.)  shows  the  unreasonableness  of  this  position,  and 
thinks  it  undeniable  that  there  are  well  proved  instances 
of  those  who  have  lived  to  be  from  120  to  130  years, and 
apparently  very  rare  cases  of  persons  who  have  out- 
lived the  first  half  of  their  second  century.  An  article 
on  this  subject  in  Chambers'  Journal  in  1880  (copied 
into  the  Eclectic,  Oct.,  1880)  contained  many  facts, 
perhaps  not  all  carefully  sifted,  sustaining  this  position 
of  Zoeckler.  Any  one  who  keeps  a  record  of  persons 
who  die  in  this  country  more  than  a  hundred  years 
old,  will  weary  of  the  task;  and  he  will  meet  with 
apparently  authenticated  instances  of  the  attainment  of 
112  or  even  120  years  and  more.  While,  therefore, 
the  skepticism  of  Thoms  was  uncalled  for,  it  remains 
true  that  the  greatest  age  now  attained  lies  between 
one  and  two  hundred  years. 

Note  xix.,  p.  203:  Delitzsch  makes  the  following 
references:  Is.  xxxviii.5,  Jonah  ii.4,  Zech.ii.  4.  Strack 
adds  to  these  Judg.  ii.  6,  i  Ki.  vii.  13.  Dr.  Green 
adopts  a  slightly  varied  but  equivalent  rendering: 
"Jehovah  God,  having  formed,  etc.,  brought."  He 
adds,  "In  numberless  passages  in  the  English  version 
of  the  Bible  similar  expressions  are  paraphrased  in 
order  to  express  this  subordination  cf  the  first  verb  to 
the  second,"  as,  e.  g.,    Gen.    iii.    6.     And   as   to   the 


APPENDIX  375 

notion  that  order  of  mention  in  the  Scriptures  must  be 
the  order  of  time,  he  shows  its  absurdity  by  such  ex- 
amples as  Gen.  xxiv.64,  65;  Ex.  iv.  31 ;  Josh.  ii.  22; 
I  Ki.  xiii.  12;  Is.  xxxii.  2-5,  and  one  or  two  other 
cases.  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  alleged  contra- 
diction and  of  the  double  narrative, the  reader  is  referred 
to  his  learned  treatise. 

It  may  be  added  in  further  explanation  of  the  ob- 
jections to  a  fair  understanding  of  this  artless  narrative. 
Dr.  Driver  insists  that  while  the  original  account  of 
creation  gives  the  order,vegetation,  animals,  man,  this 
chapter  gives  it,  man,  vegetation,  animals;  and  as- 
sumes to  know  the  "progression  evidently  intentional 
on  the  part  of  the  narrator."  The  order  of  temporal 
progression  certainly  does  appear  intentional  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis  (with  certain  qualifications), 
but  that  the  writer  in  referring  to  past  facts  is  logically 
or  actually  held  to  the  order  of  time  is  a  view  that  the 
history  of  all  literature  contradicts.  The  very  page 
in  which  Dr.  Driver  advances  this  notion,  will  not 
stand  such  a  test. 

Note  XX.,  p.  206:  Although  it  is  impracticable  to 
discuss  the  several  theories,  it  may  be  well  to  mention 
briefly  some  of  the  more  prominent  and  least  impossible 
ones.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  less  than  thirty  years 
ago  the  American  Tract  Society  should  have  published 
a  book  in  which  the  Nile  and  the  Ganges  were  made 
the  companions  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  in  the 
garden  of  Eden.  (Studies  in  Bible  Lands,  by  Rev. 
W.  L.  Gage,  1869,  pp.  16-18.)  Cush  was  of  course 
the  first  stumbling  block,  which  introduced  the  Nile, 
and  then  the  Ganges  entered  easily. 

A  late  and  somewhat  confident  modern  view  is  that 
of  Friedrich  Delitzsch,  which  has  attracted  no  little 
attention.  In  addition  to  the  two  unquestionable  rivers, 
he  supposes  two  other  streams  to  be  two  channels  or 
canals  branching  from  the  Euphrates  below  Babylon, 
the  one  on  the  east,  the  Pallakopas  (Pishon),  the  other 
on  the  west,  the  Guchanu  (Gihon).  He  supposes  the 
Euphrates  and  Tigris  originally  to  have  flowed   sepa- 


376  APPENDIX 

rately  to  the  gulf ;  and  since  the  waters  of  the  former, 
as  it  is  affirmed,  find  their  way  to  some  degree  in  small 
streams  into  the  latter  above  Babylon,  the  one  original 
Euphrates  passes  on  through  four  streams  below  Baby- 
lon, near  which  place  he  finds  the  garden  of  Eden. 
The  theory  is  open  to  serious  objections,  and  appears 
to  have  received  more  attention  than  assent.  We  may 
say,  perhaps,  that  it  is  not  impossible.  It  coincides 
in  general,  however,  with  the  view  of  numerous  other 
modern  writers  in  placing  the  garden  near  or  belov/ 
Babylon.  Some  of  these  have  approximated  so  near 
this  opinion  as  to  regard  the  two  streams  as  the  east 
and  west  branches  of  the  Schatt  el  Arab,  the  united 
stream  below  the  jiniction  of  the  two  great  rivers  (Bo- 
chart,  and  proximately  Tayler  Lewis);  while  Sir 
Henry  Rawlinson,  fixing  the  location  in  Babylonia, 
finds  the  two  streams  in  c^uestion  to  be  branches  of  the 
Euphrates  and  Tigris. 

Sir  J.  W.  Dawson  (Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands, 
pp.  195  seq.)  with  great  confidence  maintains  that  the 
Pison  is  the  Karun  and  the  Gihon  is  the  Kerkha,  two 
streams  which  rise  far  in  the  northeast  and  empty  in- 
to the  vSchatt  el  Arab.  The  grave  objection  is  that 
these  rivers,  rising  in  a  different  direction  and  far 
away  from  the  first  two,  can  in  no  sense  be  called  di- 
visions of  one  stream  into  four  heads.  Pressell  an- 
ticipated this  view,  but  not  the  objection,  by  saying 
that  the  division  was  not  downward  from  the  source 
but  upward  from  the  junction;  which  contravenes  the 
description. 

There  is  one  theory  which  perhaps  deserves  more 
careful  attention  than  it  has  received.  It  is  the  view 
that  the  locality  of  Eden  was  in  Armenia,  in  the  form 
stated  by  Pellicanus  of  Zurich  in  1533,  more  thoroughly 
shaped  and  maintained  by  the  famous  Reland  in  1706, 
and  w^ith  some  modifications  accepted  by  Von  Raumer, 
Kurtz,  Baumgarten,  Bunsen,  Keil,  Zahn,  J.  P.  Lange, 
Rosenmiiller,  Kitto,  Chesney.  Oettli  mentions  it  as 
one  of  two  views  both  of  which  are  favored  by  many 
circumstances  and  opposed  by   others;  and   Strack  (in 


APPENDIX  877 

1894)  holds  that  it  is  a  theory  to  which  the  biblical 
statements  and  the  investigations  concerning  the  orig- 
inal abode  of  the  race  "are  not  unfavorable."  The 
greatest  objection  is  removed,  provided  the  original 
"  river"  can  be  understood  as  denoting,  not  a  single 
stream,  but  the  waters  collectively,  "  the  river  system," 
water  supply,  of  the  region.  And,  aside  from  in- 
stances which  can  be  adduced  in  support  of  this  inter- 
pretation, there  is  the  actual  fact  that  the  Euphrates 
and  Tigris,  though  originating  in  the  collective  waters 
of  the  region,  do  not  come  from  the  same  one  stream. 
This  would  seem  decisive.  Justified  by  this  fact,  these 
writers  fix  on  the  Araxes,  which,  as  Col.  Chesney  as- 
certained, rises  midway  between  two  main  sources  of 
the  Euphrates,  about  ten  miles  from  each,  and  flows  a 
thousand  miles  east  into  the  Caspian  Sea.  This  would 
be  the  Gihon— although  Michaelis  made  it  the  Pison. 
For  the  fouth  river  Reland  selected  the  Phasis  (Rion), 
flowing  into  the  Black  Sea,  and  found  the  land  of 
Havilah,  which  it  compasses,  in  the  ancient  Colchis, 
the  land  of  the  golden  fleece,  the  consonant  letters  of 
which,  with  a  slight  transposition,  somewhat  closely 
correspond.  Kitto  and  Chesney,  however,  fix  in  pref- 
erence on  the  Halys  (Kizil  Irmak)  for  the  fourth  river, 
as  rising  nearer  the  sources  of  the  others.  It  is  also 
a  much  longer  stream,  equally  encompasses  the  ancient 
land  of  gold,  passing  through  a  land  of  minerals,  where 
silver  mines  are  still  known.  This  would  include  the 
four  great  rivers  of  the  region,  all  rising  within  a  com- 
paratively short  distance  of  one  another.  The  interpre- 
tation encouraged  by  the  fact  is  apparently  sustained 
to  some  degree  by  linguistic  usage,  as  in  Jonah  ii.  3, 
Ps.  xxii.  4.  Lange  in  his  comment  on  the  passage 
adduces  several  other  instances  bearing  in  the  same 
direction.  The  chief  objection  to  the  interpretation  is 
the  use  of  the  word  {iiahar  in  Hebrew)  in  a  different 
sense  from  the  use  two  verses  later.  It  may  be  replied 
that  (i)  such  diverse  uses  in  even  closer  connections 
are  found,  e.  g.,  "  let  the  dead  bury  their  dead";  (2) 
the  Hebrew  has  no  word  or  phrase  corresponding  to  our 


378  APPENDIX 

phrase  "  water  S3^stem"  or  "  supply,"  and  perhaps  nahar 
comes  as  near  as  any,  or  nearer;  (3)  the  facts  in  the 
actual  usage  here  would  seem  to  settle  the  question, 
for  the  Tigris  is  certainly  a  river,  and  the  waters  in 
which  it  and  the  Euphrates  both  originate  are  not  a 
river.  The  whole  subject  cannot  be  discussed  here, 
but  a  fuller,  though  brief  statement  by  the  present 
writer  may  be  found  in  the  American  edition  of  Smith's 
Dictionary  of  the  Bible  at  the  end  of  the  article,"  Eden." 
This  explanation  has  seemed  to  him  to  have  stronger 
claims  than  any  other  yet  advanced  on  a  difficult  sub- 
ject. It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  Eden  is  a  region 
in  which  the  garden  was  situated,  that  the  land  of 
Havilah  cannot  be  confidently  determined,  and  that  all 
attempts,  like  those  of  Sir  John  Dawson  and  others, 
to  decide  it  from  the  products  bdellium  and  the  onyx 
stone  are  hopelessly  adrift,  because, after  all  is  said,  no 
man  now  knows  what  they  were. 

Note  xxi.,  p.  223:  Lenormant  says:  "Certain  it  is 
that  at  the  epoch  of  the  great  influx  of  oriental  tradi- 
tions into  the  classic  world,  a  representation  of  this 
nature  appears  upon  several  Roman  sarcophagi,  where 
it  undoubtedly  indicates  the  introduction  of  a  legend 
analogous  to  the  narrative  of  Genesis,  and  akin  to  the 
formation  of  man  by  Prometheus.  A  famous  sarcoph- 
agus in  the  museum  of  the  capitol  exhibits,  close 
beside  the  Titan,  son  of  Japetos,  who  is  finishing  his 
task  of  moulding, the  pair,  man  and  woman,  in  a  state 
of  primitive  nudity,  standing  at  the  foot  of  a  tree,  the 
man  in  the  act  of  gathering  fruit.  A  bas-relief  in- 
crusted  in  the  wall  of  the  little  garden  of  Villa  Albani  at 
Rome  presents  the  same  group,  but  more  closely  con- 
formed to  the  Hebrewtradition, since  a  greatsnake  twists 
itself  around  the  trunk  of  the  tree  under  whose  shadows 
the  two  mortals  are  standing.  .  .  But  I  find  incon- 
trovertible evidence  of  the  existence  of  such  a  tradition 
in  the  cycle  of  the  indigenous  legends  of  the  people  of 
Kcnaan,  since  the  discovery  of  a  curious  vase  painted 
in  the  Phenician  manner,  dating  back  to  the  seventh 
or  sixth  century  B.  C,  and  found  by  General  Cesnola 


APPENDIX  370 

in  one  of  the  most  ancient  sepulchers  of  Idalium  on  the 
Island  of  Cyprus.  We  trace  thereupon  a  tree  with 
foliage;  from  the  lower  branches  hang  on  either  side 
two  great  bunches  of  fruit;  a  huge  serpent  approaches 
the  tree  with  an  undulating  motion,  and  is  in  the  act  of 
opening  his  jaw  to  seize  one  of  the  fruits."     Pp.  loi, 

I02. 

Note  xxii.,  p.  229:  "If  now  the  term  day  is  to  be 
understood  literally,  it  is  clear  that  the  narrative  of 
Genesis  cannot  accord  with  the  teaching  of  Geology; 
are  we  at  liberty,  then,  to  understand  it  in  any  other 
way?  This  question  must  be  answered,  not  by  a  dis- 
cussion as  to  the  proper  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  term 
employed  (respecting  which  there  is  no  doubt),  ])ut 
by  inquiring  whether  or  not  it  may  have  been  used  ]->y 
the  writer  metaphorically.  Although  there  are  no 
precise  parallels  in  the  Old  Testament  for  such  a  met- 
aphorical use  of  the  word,  it  seems  on  the  whole  reason- 
able to  concede  it  here.  The  author,  it  may  be  sup- 
posed, while  conscious  that  the  divine  operation  could 
not  be  measured  by  human  standards  of  time,  never- 
theless was  desirous  of  accommodating  artificially  the 
period  of  creation  to  the  divisions  of  the  week ;  and 
hence  adopted  the  term  day  in  a  figurative  sense.  If 
this  view  be  correct,  the  term  will  have  been  used  by 
him  consciously,  as  a  metaphor,  for  the  purpose  of  his 
representation,  it  being  really  his  intention  to  designate 
by  it  a  period  of  time.  The  several  da3's,  with  their 
'evenings'  and  'mornings,'  will  thus  be  the  form 
under  which  the  work  is  represented  as  taking  place; 
they  will  not  constitute  part  of  the  reality."  (Driver's 
Sermons  on  the  Old  Testament,  p.  166.) 

Note  xxiii.,  p.  236:  Thus  Croll  quotes  with  ap- 
proval Professor  Winchell :  "We  have  not,"  says  Pro- 
fessor Winchell,  "the  slightest  grounds  for  assuming 
that  matter  existed  in  a  certain  condition  from  all  eter- 
nity, and  only  began  undergoing  its  changes  a  few 
millions  or  billions  of  years  ago.  The  essential  activity 
of  the  powers  ascribed  to  it  forbids  the  thought.  For 
all  that  we  know — and  indeed  as   the  conclusion  of  all 


880  APPENDIX 

we  know — primal  matter  began  its  progressive  changes 
on  the  morning  of  its  existence.  As  therefore  the  series 
of  changes  is  demonstrably  finite,  the  lifetime  of  matter 
is  necessarily  finite.  There  is  no  real  refuge  from 
this  conclusion  ;  for  if  we  suppose  the  beginning  of 
the  present  cycle  to  have  been  only  the  restitution  of 
an  older  order  effected  by  the  operations  of  natural 
causes,  and  suppose — what  science  is  unable  to  com- 
prehend— that  older  order  to  be  a  similar  reinaugura- 
tion,  and  so  on  indefinitely  through  the  past,  we  only 
postpone  the  predication  of  an  absolute  beginning, since, 
by  all  the  admissions  of  modern  scientific  philosophy, 
it  is  a  necessity  of  nature  to  run  down." 

Croll  proceeds  to  say  for  himself,  "These  are  con- 
sequences which  necessarily  follow  from  every  theory 
of  stellar  evolution  which  has  hitherto  been  advanced." 
And  after  some  remarks  on  the  impact  theory, he  closes 
thus:  "We  have  no  grounds  to  conclude  that  there  is 
anything  eternal,  except  God,  Time  and  Space.  But 
if  time  and  space  be  subjective,  as  Kant  supposes,  and 
not  modes  pertaining  to  the  existence  of  things  in  them- 
selves, then  God  alone  was  uncreated,  and  o/'Him  and 
to  Him  are  all  things."  (Croll's  Stellar  Evolution, 
pp.  Ill,  112.)  We  are  not  concerned  with  the  sug- 
gestion concerning  time  and  space,  but  with  the  view 
concerning  matter.  Such  views  are  not  confined  to 
these  scientists. 

Note  xxiv.,  p.  251  :  Few  things  in  the  history  of 
literature  or  science  are  more  striking  or  cautionary 
than  the  great  and  rapid  diminution  of  the  antiquity 
assigned  to  the  human  race.  The  change  in  Le  Conte's 
two  editions  is  in  point.  Dr.  Hunt,  a  president  of  the 
British  Anthropological  Society  (cited  by  Southall, 
Recent  Origin,  p.  46),  held  that  the  proper  date  is  nine 
million  years  ago.  Draper  (Conflict,  p.  199)  wanted 
"many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years."  Lubbock 
(Prehistoric  Times,  p.  414)  wants  from  100,000  to 
240,000.  Lyell,  who  assigned  man's  appearance  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  glacial  period,  at  first  dated  that 
period  many  hundred  thousand  years  ago.   While  man's 


APPENDIX  381 

advent  is  still  regarded  as  pre-glacial,  the  latest  in- 
vestigations in  America  tend  to  bring  down  the  close 
of  the  glacial  period  in  this  country  to  within  some 
eight  thousand  years.  The  results  may  be  found  in 
Wright's  "  Ice  Age  in  North  America."  Prestwich  says 
that  his  opinion  previously  expressed  against  Croll's 
view  that  80,000  years  intervened  between  paleolithic 
and  neolithic  man,  and  his  belief  that  the  close  of  the 
glacial  period  comes  down  to  within  10,000  or  12,000 
years  of  our  times,  is  confirmed  by  these  investigations. 
(Journal  of  Victoria  Institute,  vol.  xxvii.,  p.  281.) 

In  like  manner  much  more  cautious  opinions  are 
beginning  to  be  expressed  concerning  the  actual  antiq- 
uity of  certain  ancient  nations  to  which  it  was  custom- 
ary to  ascribe  a  kind  of  fabulous  antiquity.  Thus 
Max  Mueller,  in  an  article  on  "The  Enormous  An- 
tiquity of  the  East"  in  The  Nineteenth  Century  (May, 
1891),  v^^rites:  ''''Authentic  history  begins  when  we 
have  the  testimony  of  a  cotemporary  or  eye-witness  to 
the  events  which  he  relates.  Constructive  history  and 
constructive  chronology  rest  on  deduction.  The  authen- 
tic history  of  India  does  not  begin  before  the  third 
century  B.  C.  Constructive  history  places  the  Vedic 
hymns  about  1,500  B.  C.  In  Egyptian  history,  what- 
ever date  we  accept,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that,  like 
all  ancient  Egyptian  dates, they  rest  on  the  construction 
which  we  put  on  Manetho's  dynasties,  and  on  the  frag- 
ments of  papyri,  like  the  royal  papyrus  of  Turin.  The 
chronology  of  the  Old  Testament  is  likewise  construct- 
ive. In  China  authentic  history  cannot  be  said  to 
begin  before  the  burning  of  the  books  by  the  Emperor 
Khin  in  213  B.  C. 

"In  Babylon,  Nabonidus  550  B.  C.  lighted  on  the 
foundation  stone  of  the  Sun-god  temple  at  Sippara, 
which  had  not  been  seen  by  any  of  his  predecessors 
for  3,200  years.  Hence  550  +  3200=3750,  the  time  of 
Sargon's  son,  Naran  Sin.  But  to  use  a  foundation- 
stone  on  its  own  authority  as  a  stepping-stone  over  a 
gap  of  3,200  years, is  purely  constructive  chronology." 

In  view  of   these   obvious   considerations,  one   is   a 


382  APPENDIX 

little  surprised  at  the  entire  confidence  with  which 
Professor  McCurdy  affirms,  "  There  is  no  reasonable 
doubt  that  the  reckoning  made  by  the  experts  of 
Nabonidus  was  correct."  How  do  we  know  that  there 
was  a  "reckoning"  and  that  "experts"  made  it'^  (Mc- 
Curdy's  History,    Prophecy  and   the   Monuments,  i., 

P-  97-) 

In  the  line  of  caution.  Professor   Winchell   in    1881 

(Preadamite  Man,  p.  421)  could  "  discover  no  valid 
ground  whatever  for  the  opinion  that  the  stone  age  in 
Europe  began  more  than  2500  or  3000  B.  C." 

Note  XXV.,  p. 263:  Thus  Professor  Davis  thinks  the 
form  Shabbatu  (or  Shabattu)  not  certain,  and  that  the 
phrase  translated  "  rest  of  the  heart"  elsewhere  denotes 
the  appeasing  the  heart  of  the  gods — which  would  be 
a  more  directly  religious  expression  than  the  other. 
He,  however,  very  fully  affirms  that  "  the  seven  day 
period  was  a  recognized  standard,"  and  "the  auspi- 
cious and  sacred  character  of  the  seventh  day"  (pp.  32, 

33); 

Note  xxvi.,  p.  263:     Thomas  proceeds  (Le  Jour  du 

Seigneur,  p.  268),  "  These  are  not  the  only  resemblances 
which  might  be  indicated.  Thus  the  ancient  Germans 
appear  to  have  had  the  week  before  receiving  from  the 
Romans  its  mythological  appellation;  the  Hindoos 
make  use  for  many  ages  of  the  planetary  week,  and 
even  in  some  regions  specially  solemnize  one  of  its 
days.  In  reviewing  the  terms  by  which  the  number 
seven  is  designated  in  numerous  languages,  we  become 
aware  of  curious  philological  facts  which  might  become 
important.  We  should  love  to  trace  further  the  re- 
markable connection  which  we  have  already  pointed 
out  between  the  idea  of  that  number  and  the  oath." 

Note  xxvii.,  p.  270:  Few  persons  consider  how  con- 
stantly and  how  confidently  we  rely  on  the  kind  of 
evidence  which  may  be  called  traditional  or  prescrip- 
tive, the  weight  and  influence  of  which  cannot  be 
stated  in  technical  form.  VVhately  has  called  attention 
to  it  forcibly  in  his  little  book  on  the  evidences  of 
Christianity.  In  regard  to  the  matter  of  authorship  Car- 


APPENDIX  383 

dinal  Newman  in  his  "  Grammar  of  Assent"  (pp.  284, 
286)  expresses  himself  thus :  "  If  we  deal  with  argu- 
ments in  the  mere  letter,  the  question  of  the  authorship 
of  works  in  any  case  has  much  difficulty.  I  have 
noticed  it  in  the  instance  of  Shakespeare,  and  of 
Newton.  We  are  all  certain  that  Johnson  wrote  the 
prose  of  Johnson,  and  Pope  the  poetry  of  Pope ;  but 
what  is  there  but  prescription,  at  least  after  cotempo- 
raries  are  dead,  to  connect  together  the  author  of  the 
work  and  the  owner  of  the  name?  Our  lawyers  prefer 
the  examination  of  present  witnesses  to  affidavits  on 
paper;  but  the  tradition  of  "  testimonia,"  such  as  are 
prefixed  to  the  classics  and  the  Fathers,  together  with 
the  absence  of  dissentient  voices,  is  the  adequate 
groundwork  of  our  belief  in  the  history  of  literature." 
"We  have  no  means  of  inferring  unconditionally  that 
Virgil's  episode  of  Dido,  or  of  the  Sibyl,  and  Horace's 
'Te  quoque  mensorem'  and  'Quem  tu  Melpomene' 
belong  to  that  Augustan  age  which  owes  its  celebrity 
mainly  to  those  poets.  Our  common  sense,  however, 
believes  in  their  genuineness  without  any  hesitation 
or  reserve,  as  if  it  had  been  demonstrated,  and  not  in 
proportion  to  the  available  evidence  in  its  favor,  or  the 
balance  of  arguments." 

Note  xxviii.,  p.  310:  The  fact  that  the  date  of  the 
Pentateuch  or  of  portions  of  it  cannot  be  determined 
by  language  or  style  is  now  conceded  somewhat  gen- 
erally. Professor  Robertson  (p.  42)  quotes  Kuenen  to 
that  effect.  Dr.  Driver  (Introduction,  p.  117)  speaks 
very  decidedly,  even  going  so  far  as  to  say  that  "  there 
is  no  perceptible  archaic  flavor  in  the  style  of  JE,"  the 
supposed  oldest  w^riters,  and  placing  his  argument  as 
to  their  date  wholly  on  other  grounds.  Dr.  B.  W. 
Bacon,  who  endeavors  to  speak  for  the  drift  of  modern 
criticism,  says  (Genesis  of  Genesis,  p.  58),  "  The  inter- 
nal evidence  of  the  late  origin  of  P  is  mainly  derived 
from  evidences  of  development  in  the  legislation  beyond 
the  point  of  Deuteronomy  and  Ezekiel."  In  fact  the 
arguments  of  the  leaders  of  this  school  of  interpretation 
direct  their  chief  attention  to  what  they  term   the   his- 


881  APPENDIX 

torical  considerations — which  historical  considerations, 
however,  do  not  necessarily  include  any  historical 
allusions^  but  are  founded,  as  in  the  remark  of  Dr. 
Bacon,  upon  alleged  marks  of  progress  or  development. 
Thus  in  a  very  recent  commentary  on  Judges,  the 
writer  admits  that  "the  author's  motive,  the  lesson  he 
enforces,  and  the  way  in  which  he  makes  the  history 
teach  are  almost  the  only  data  at  our  command  to  as- 
certain the  age  in  which  he  lived,"  but  he  asserts  that 
these  criteria  are  among  the  "  most  conclusive"  and 
"determine  beyond  reasonable  doubt."  In  regard  to 
some  fourteen  chapters  of  which  he  determines  the 
age,  he  confesses  "  there  are  no  allusions  to  historical 
events  which  might  serve  us  as  a  clue,"  and  "almost 
the  only  criterion  is  their  relation  to  the  religious  de- 
velopment." One  thing  that  precludes  these  critics 
from  all  arguments  derived  from  the  language,  is  the 
summary  manner  in  which  they  disintegrate  the  text. 

Note  xxix.,  p.  282;  Among  many  other  passages, 
the  author  would  gladly  have  called  attention  to  the 
phenomena  exhibited  in  the  treatment  of  Gen.  xxii. 
8-15,  xxviii.  12,  13,  15-20,  xxix.  24-31,  xxx.  17-29; 
Num.  x.  29-xvii.,  xx.-xxvi. 

In  so  cautious  a  critic  as  Dr.  Driver  the  reader  who 
will  take  the  trouble  to  count  his  tabulations  of  the 
Hexateuch,  will  find  (besides  other  divisions)  about 
fifty  fragments  of  three  or  four  verses,  more  than  forty 
of  one  verse  each,  more  than  thirty  of  half  verses,  and 
several  instances  of  verses  divided  into  fragments  <2,  b 
and  c  to  maintain  the  analysis.  Besides  these  distinct 
dismemberments,  resort  is  abundantly  made  to  "ele- 
ments" not  tabulated,  numerous  passages  covered  by 
"  partly,"  "  in  the  main,"  "  additions,"  "  a  few  phrases 
besides,"  "  other  independent  sources,"  "  other  sources," 
passages  "modeled  upon  the  style  of"  a  given  writer, 
and  the  additional  safeguard  of  "one  of  the  final 
redactors  of  the  Pentateuch."  Here  is  ample  room 
for  an  aliqiiid  ex  allqiw. 

Professor  Fitz  Hommel,  in  his  latest  utterance,  does 
not  hesitate  to  express  himself  thus :  "  It  is  unquestion- 


APPENDIX  885 

able  that  the  higher  critics  have  gone  virtually  bank- 
rupt in  their  attempt  to  unravel,  not  only  chapter  by 
chapter,  but  verse  by  verse,  and  clause  by  clause,  the 
web  in  which  thedifferent  sources  are  entangled,  argu- 
ing frequently  from  premises  which  are  altogether 
false."  (The  Ancient  Hebrew  Tradition,  1897.)  This 
comment  is  the  more  noteworthy,  inasmuch  as  he  does 
not  assent  to  the  denial  of  all  "sources." 

Note  XXX.,  p.  342;  Klostermann  thus  ridicules  the 
process  of  the  analysis :  "  For  our  science  Moses  is 
indeed  dead ;  but  he  has  found  an  heir  of  his  office, 
though  perhaps  first  a  thousand  years  later,  to  produce 
the  Genesis  of  to-day  with  scissors  and  glue-brush  out 
of  independent,  collected  parchments.  Without  further 
preliminary,  we  leap  over  the  two  thousand  years  and 
put  ourselves  with  our  Genesis  behind  his  chair  to 
watch  him  as  he  has  so  nicely  pasted  them  together, 
and  with  kindly  regard  to  our  curiosity  has  preserved 
the  colors  and  uncovered  the  seams  that  we  may  at  our 
pleasure  take  them  apart  and  group  them  tastefully. 
Yet  we  are  at  an  evil  disadvantage  in  comparison  with 
Astruc  (the  early  analyst).  For  to  him  Moses  was  a 
man  of  flesh  and  blood,  he  knew  him  from  what  he 
had  written,  and  he  knew  his  purpose.  Our  redactor, 
on  the  contrary,  is  absolutely  unknown ;  he  is  every- 
where and  nowhere ;  we  know  not  his  purpose,  his 
style,  his  materials.  For  he  himself  has  at  most  written 
this  or  that  line ;  but  as  soon  as  we  will  lay  hold  of 
him,  one  says  it  is  but  a  gloss,  another  that  it  is  an 
older  addition  made  before  his  time;  and  so  he  glides 
away   like  a    phantom."     (Knobel,    Der   Pentateuch, 

P-5-) 

Professor  Ramsay,  who  has  done  so  much   towards 

elucidating  the  book  of  Acts,  describes  and  character- 
izes a  similar  attempt,  but  on  a  much  more  limited 
scale,  to  disintegrate  that  history :  "  Dr.  Clemen  sup- 
poses that  three  older  documents,  a  history  of  the 
Hellenistic  Jews,  a  history  of  Peter,  and  a  history  of 
Paul,  were  worked  into  one  work  by  a  Judaist-Redac- 
tor,  who  inserted  many  little  touches  and  even  passages 


886  APPENDIX 

of  considerable  length  to  give  a  tone  favorable  to  the 
Judaizing  type  of  Christianity  ;  and  that  this  completed 
book  was  again  worked  over  by  an  anti-Judaist  Redac- 
tor II.,  who  inserted  other  parts  to  give  a  tone  un- 
favorable to  the  Judaizing  type  of  Christianity,  but 
left  the  Judaic  insertions.  Finally  a  Redactor  III.,  of 
neutral  tone,  incorporated  a  new  document  (vi.  i-6), 
and  gave  the  whole  its  present  form  by  a  number  of 
small  touches. 

"  When  a  theory  becomes  so  complicated  as  Clemen's, 
the  humble  scholar  who  has  been  trained  only  in  phil- 
ological and  historical  method  finds  himself  unable  to 
keejD  pace,  and  toils  in  vain  behind  this  daring  flight. 
We  shall  not  at  present  stop  to  argue  from  examples 
in  ancient  and  modern  literature  that  a  dissection  of 
this  elaborate  kind  cannot  be  carried  out."  And  Pro- 
fessor Ramsay  proceeds  to  pronounce  it  in  this  case 
"simply  impossible."  (Ramsay's  St,  Paul  the  I'rav- 
eler  and  the  Roman  Citizen,  pp.  12,  13.) 

Note  xxxi.,  p.  325:  In  the  references  to  geographical 
position  classed  by  Dr.  Bacon  (p.  44)  as  post-Mosaic 
are  these :  "  The  Pentateuch  writers  use  invariably 
the  stereotyped  expressions  for  north,  south,  east  and 
west,  which  nevertheless  have  no  significance  except 
for  a  dweller  of  Palestine.  Thus  south  is  literally 
'Negeb-ward' ;  west  is  'sea- ward,'  toward  the  Mediter- 
ranean." The  answer  is  ready,  that  they  were  used 
because  they  were  the  stereotyped  Hebrew  terms,  and 
the  Pentateuch,  being  written  in  the  Hebrew  language, 
must  use  them.  The  words  for  north  (occurring  in 
the  Old  Testament  more  than  130  times),  west  and 
south,  were  the  only  ones  in  common  use.  It  is  also 
said:  "The  expression  'beyond  Jordan'  is  always 
shown  by  the  context  to  mean  eastward,  whereas  to 
Moses  beyond  Jordan  would  be  west."  The  statement 
is  too  sweeping.  The  phrase  is  understood  to  have 
taken  on  a  geographical  signification,  designating  a 
point  of  compass,  eastward.  But  the  actual  double 
usage  of  it,  and  the  explanatory  terms  frequently  con- 
nected with  it  in  Deuteronomy  and  the  early   chapters 


APPENDIX  887 

of  Joshua,  go  to  show  the  ambiguity  that  hung  over  it 
when  Moses  and  Joshua  were  themselves  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Jordan.  And  this  curious  vibration  be- 
tween the  geographical  and  the  general  or  unrestricted 
meaning  is  a  strong  corroboration  of  the  narrative. 
Where  no  question  would  be  likely  to  arise,  "beyond 
Jordan"  is  east  of  Jordan,  as  Gen.  1.  lo,  ii.  Josh.  ix. 
lo,  xvii.  5;  also  in  the  administrative  assignment  of 
territory,  or  in  a  reference  to  it,  the  technical  sense 
occurs — Josh.  i.  14,  xiv.  3.  It  is  so  used  Deut.  1.  5, 
and  made  distinct  by  being  "  in  the  plains  of  Moab," 
and  Num.  xxxv.  14  by  being  in  contrast  to  "  Canaan." 
In  several  instances  a  possible  ambiguity  is  removed 
by  adding  "toward  the  sunrising,"  Josh.  1.  15,  xxiii. 
7,  Deut.  iv.  41,  47,  49.  Joshua  on  the  east  side  of 
Jordan  makes  it  clear  by  the  same  addition,  it  having 
been  also  used  undefined  in  the  previous  verse.  In 
Josh.  xii.  I  the  writer  of  the  book  adopts  the  same 
method.  But  Moses,  in  his  address  while  east  of  the 
Jordan,  naturally  uses  the  phrase  in  its  untechnical 
meaning,  namely,  the  other  side  of  Jordan  from  him, 
Deut.  iii.  15,  20.  In  two  notable  instances  where  it 
is  used  in  this  wider  sense  and  applied  to  the  western 
region,  the  doubt  is  removed  by  adding  "  toward  the 
going  down  of  the  sun,"  or  "westward."  A  still  more 
curious  instance  occurs  in  Num.  xxxii.,  where  in  verse 
32  the  Reubenites  and  Gadites  use  the  word  in  its 
technical  sense,  and  in  verse  19  in  both  senses,  distin- 
guished, however,  by  adding  "eastward"  and  "for- 
ward." 

An  anachronism  is  also  alleged  in  Gen.  xl.  15,  where 
"  the  land  of  the  Hebrews"  occurs.  But  there  was  an 
obvious  reason  why  Joseph  should  not  say  the  land  of 
"Canaan,"  identifying  himself  with  the  Canaanites; 
and  as  "  Abram  the  Hebrew"  (xiv.  13)  and  three  gen- 
erations of  his  descendants  had  occupied  the  land  of 
promise,  the  anachronism  is  not  apparent. 

Some  objections  as  to  indications  of  time  made  by 
the  same  writer  may  here  be  mentioned.  The  phrases 
"unto   this  day"  (Gen.  xxxii.  32,  xxxv.  20;  Deut.    x. 


888  APPENDIX 

8),  and  "the  landmark  which  they  of  old  time  have 
set,"  are  said  to  point  to  mementos  of  antiquity.  But 
they  are  entirely  vague,  and  may  apply  to  any  longer 
or  shorter  period.  In  Josh.  xxii.  3  the  interval  ap- 
pears to  be  but  a  few  months.  Gen.  xv.  13,  17  has 
been  explained  in  the  body  of  this  volume.  On  the 
phrase  (Gen.  xxxvi.  31),  "before  there  reigned  any 
king  over  Israel,"  as  implying  authorship  after  the 
monarchy  was  established,  Dr.  Briggs  (Higher  Crit- 
icism of  the  Hexateuch,  p.  82),  while  inclined  to  that 
view,  yet  remarks,  "We  cannot  deny  to  Moses  the 
conception  of  a  future  kingdom  in  Israel.  In  view 
of  the  fact  that  the  Israelites  had  just  come  out  of  bond- 
age to  the  Egyptian  kings,  and  that  they  were  sur- 
rounded by  nations  having  kings,  it  was  natural  to 
think  of  kings  for  Israel  likewise."  So  also  Delitzsch 
substantially.  The  statements.  Gen.  xii.  66^  xiii.  76, 
"the  Canaanite  was  then  in  the  land,"  are  alleged  to 
bring  down  the  date  to  the  time  when  the  Canaanites 
had  disappeared,  subsequent  to  Solomon.  It  is  a  large 
inference  from  a  small  premise.  The  first  instance  is 
a  natural  comment  on  the  remarkabieness  of  the  promise 
that  Abraham  should  possess  the  land  of  which  the 
Canaanite  was  then  in  possession.  In  the  second  case, 
it  may  refer  to  the  difficulty  of  finding  pasturage,  or  to 
the  danger  of  a  quarrel  between  the  two  bodies  of 
herdsmen  when  the  Canaanites  and  Perizzites  were 
on  the  ground.  The  comments  on  the  character  of 
Moses  (Num.  xii.  3,  xxxiv.  10)  may  be  understood  as 
made  by  the  one  who  recorded  his  death.  The  con- 
quered "land  of  his  possession"  (Deut  ii.  12)  might 
possibly  be,  as  Keil  would  have  it,  the  portion  already 
conquered  east  of  the  Jordan,  or,  in  accordance  with 
the  theory  of  a  revision,  it  may  be  one  of  the  explan- 
atory notes  which  Rosenmueller  and  others  have  rec- 
ognized in  several  passages, esjDecially  in  Deuteronomy, 
which  interrupt  the  direct  narrative.  (See  Speaker's 
Commentary,  i.,  p.  810.)  The  singular  precariousress 
of  this  method  is  shown  in  the  attempt  to  find  an 
anachronism  by  identifying  the  Agag  of  Num.  xxiv.7 


APPENDIX  889 

with  the  Agag  of  i  Sam.  xv.  23 ;  whereas  Dillmann 
(on  Num.  xxxiv.  7),  speaking  of  the  latter,  says, 
"Whether  another  also  still  bore  the  name,  or  Agag 
was  a  title  of  all  Amalekite  kings  (Ros.,  Win.,  Ges., 
Hgst.,  K.  and  others),  is  wholly  unknown  to  us." 

These  are  given  us  as  "examples  of  a  class."  One 
is  surprised  that  so  slender  a  kind  and  array  of  ana- 
chronisms can  be  alleged  against  a  book  with  such  a 
history. 

Note  xxxii.,  p. 3 10:  It  is  highly  suggestive  to  see  in 
a  condensed  form  the  summary  mode  in  which  Kuenen 
deals  with  the  Hexateuch.  Without  making  an  ex- 
haustive count,  the  reader  will  find  in  the  volume, 
besides  numerous  statements  to  the  same  effect  but  in 
less  compact  form,  the  following  terms  applied  to 
various  parts  of  the  Hexateuch : 

"  Glosses,  interpolations,  insertions,  additions,"  ^6 
times;  "amplifications,  redactions,  corrections,  ex- 
pansions, supplements,  alterations,  remodelings,"  39 
times  ;  "  later  strata,  another  hand,  other  hands,  foreign 
elements,  another  source,  later  origin,  "  34  times ; 
"unhistorical,  fiction,  fictitious,  absurd,  impossible" 
(or  equivalent  terms),  22  times;  "recast,  retouched, 
worked  over,"  20  times;  "manipulated,  corrupt,  har- 
monizing artifices,  patch- work,  literary  artifices,  tacked 
on,"  15  times;  "fused,  welded,  amalgamated,  com- 
bined, compiled,  incorporated,  remodeled,"  16  times; 
besides  other  similar  terms,  a  free  use  of  "contradic- 
tions," and  the  general  statement  that  "  the  redaction 
was  a  long  and  continuous  process. '^^ 

This  is  but  a  partial  enumeration  and  is  far  from 
giving  an  adequate  exhibition  of  the  process  claimed. 
For  we  read  not  alone  of  single  changes,  but  of  long 
continued  operations,  described  in  such  terms  as  these: 
"  Subsequently  filled  and  expanded,  gradually  elabor- 
ated, product  of  continuous  redaction,  gradually  ac- 
cumulated, later  expansions  have  risen  successively, 
successive  filling  in  and  amplification,  repeated  manip- 
ulation and  expansion,  the  result  of  imitation,  largely 
remodeled  and  further  altered  when  fused,  stories  have 


390  APPENDIX 

passea  through  many  phases,  have  undergone  more 
than  one  recension,  indications  of  various  accounts, 
several  successive  recensions  and  not  much  of  the 
original  narrative  remaining,  drastic  recension,  com- 
pletely recast,  drastic  treatment,  imitated  him,  collec- 
tion brought  together  by  a  redactor  who  fitted  it  into  a 
framework  of  his  own,  put  together  and  worked  up 
and  certain  foreign  elements  afterwards  inserted,  un- 
derwent a  rather  complicated  literary  process  of  which 
we  know  nothing,  several  hands  at  work  on  the  same 
lines,  the  editor  running  them  into  his  own  mould,  a 
compound  narrative,  a  composite  narrative,  diversity 
of  sources,  interpolated  and  recast  again  and  again,  an 
absolutely  unhistorical  invention  framed  to  defend  the 
doctrine  of  a  unique  sanctuary,  additions  to  bring  the 
account  into  a  semblance  of  agreement  with  the  current 
belief,  purposely  altered  to  bring  it  into  harmony," 
Siud  ?,o  on  ad  lib  it  ufUo  It  is  well  to  get  a  bird's-eye 
view  of  the  method  in  which  one  of  the  two  great  lights 
of  the  latest  theory  proceeds.  VVellhausen's  method, 
though  perhaps  less  minute,  is  equally  summary.  The 
marvel  is  how,  after  all  these  "drastic"  processes, 
Kuenen  can  pretend  to  find  JED  and  P.  They 
would  seem  to  have  been  thoroughly  and  continuously 
welded,  fused  and  worked  over. 

Since  the  discovery  of  the  long  lost  Diatesseron  (Har- 
mony of  the  Gospels)  of  Tatian,  and  its  publication  in 
1888,  an  effort  has  been  made  to  find  in  it  some  aid 
and  comfort  for  the  analysis  of  the   Pentateuch,  thus : 

"  If  the  Syrian  church  had  been  left  to  itself,  with- 
out constant  contact  with  the  greater  church  to  the  west, 
the  knowledge  of  the  separate  gospels  might  have  been 
lost  even  among  the  learned.  The  parallel  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  Pentateuch  would  then  have  been  complete." 
(Journal  of  Biblical  Literature,  1890,  p.  209.) 

But  the  entire  absence  of  the  conditions  covered  by 
the  two  words  "if"  and  "then"  not  only  prevents  the 
"parallel"  from  being  "complete,"  but  vacates  it  of 
every  essential  resemblance  that  would  make  it  a  par- 
allel to  "the  history  of  the  Pentateuch"  as  postulated 
in  the  critical  analysis.     For — 


APPENDIX  891 

1.  We  have  and  always  have  had  actual  "  knowledge" 
of  separate  gospels.  We  never  have  had  knowledge 
nor  hint  of  separate  documents  compiled  to  form  the 
Pentateuch  as  a  whole. 

2.  The  church  has  always  had  the  gospels  themselves 
in  their  separate  form.  It  has  never  had  nor  known 
of  J  E  D  P  R,  etc.,  in  separate  form. 

3.  The  writers  of  the  four  gospels  are  all  historically 
known  personages.  J  E  D  P,  etc.,  are  one  and  all 
unknown  to  history  or  tradition. 

4.  We  have  external  means  of  knowing  proximately 
the  time,  and  more  or  less  credible  evidence  of  the  cir- 
cumstances, of  the  origin  of  our  gospels  ;  as  to  the  time 
or  circumstances  of  J  and  the  rest,  no  external  indica- 
tions whatever. 

5.  The  \.\NO  methods,  alike  only  in  the  bald  and  su- 
perficial fact  that  Tatian  made  a  compilation,  are  rad- 
ically different  in  character.  The  writer  in  the  Journal 
distinctly  states  that  Tatian's  method  was  "to  preserve 
every  detail  found  in  any  one  of  the  sources,  and  yet 
avoid  repetitions  and  hard  transitions";  (2)  that  "the 
author  has  added  nothing  which  was  not  contained  in 
his  sources";  (3)  that  he  "has  changed  them  as  little 
as  possible,"  and  only  by  phrases  of  "  transition  or  con- 
nection" (though  in  one  case  unfortunately,  between 
Matt.  i.  I  and  Luke  ii.  39) — the  only  considerable 
omission,  except  repetitions,  being  the  two  difficult 
genealogies.  Contrast,  on  the  other  hand,  not  only 
the  constant  liberties  taken  by  R  in  his  many  forms, 
but  the  wholesale  fabrications  by  D  and  P,  of  trans- 
actions, discourses,  and  even  legislations;  and  could 
two  proceedings  be  more  essentially  diverse? 

6.  Equally  in  conflict  with  any  parallelism  but  of 
contrast  is  the  confessed  inability  to  detect  the  com- 
ponent parts  of  the  Diatesseron  without  possessing  the 
gospels  themselves.  The  Journal  writer  "  confidently" 
admits,  as  he  must,  that  except  in  case  of  John's  gospel 
(which,  not  being  synoptic,  could  be  used  without  dis- 
integration), "  we  should  not  be  able  to  analyze  the 
Composite  Gospel  (of  Tatian)  with   as   much   success 


892  APPENDIX 

as  we  have  had  with  the  Pentateuch."  A  necessary 
but  damaging  admission ;  imaginary  writers  can  be 
analyzed,  actual  ones  cannot. 

In  what  respect  does  Tatian  help  Kuenen,  Cornill 
or  Driver? 

Note  xxxiii.,p.  io6:The  discussion  of  this  inscription 
of  Menephtha  is  continued  from  time  to  time,  with  an 
agreement  as  to  the  mention  of  Israel,  and  some  differ- 
ence in  rendering  the  associated  words,  and  on  the 
question  whether  it  refers  to  Israel  as  being  in  Egypt 
or  in  Palestine.  And  it  is  recognized  as  not  only  a 
mention  of  Israel,  but  as  a  boast  of  triumph  over  him. 


INDEX   OF    PRINCIPAL    AUTHORS    CITED 
OR  REFERRED  TO  IN  THIS  VOLUME 

Addis,  W.  E.,  The  Documents  of  the  Hexateuch,  1S93. 
Armstrong,  C,  Names  and  Places  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  1889. 

Bacon,  Benjamin  B.,  The  Genesis  of  Genesis,  1892. 

Baxter,  W.  L.,  Wellhausen's  "One  God,  One  Sanctu- 
ary"; The  Thinker,  1893-1894. 

Bartlett,  W.  H.,  Forty  Days  in  the  Desert,  1862. 

Bissell,  Edwin  C,  Genesis  Printed  in  Colors,  1892. 

Bliss,  F.  J.,  A  Mound  of  Many  Cities,  1894. 

Blomfield,  A.,  The  Old  Testament  and  the  New  Crit- 
icism, 1S93. 

Boscawen,  W.    St.    Chad,  The   Bible  and   the   Monu- 
ments, 1895. 

Briggs,  C.  A.,  The   Higher  Criticism   of  the   Hexa- 
teuch, 1893. 

Bunsen,  Christian  C.  J.,  Egypt's  Place    in   Universal 
History,  1858-1867. 

Bibelwerk,  volumes  ist  and  2nd,  1858-1860. 

Cave,  Alfred,  The  Inspiration  of  the  Old   Testament, 
2nd  ed.,  1888. 

Cesnola,  Louis  P.,  Cyprus,  2nd  ed.,  1878. 

Chesney,    Francis  R.,  Survey  of  the  Euphrates  and 
Tigris,  1850. 

Conder,  Claude  R.,  Tent  Work  in  Palestine,  1878. 
Heth  and  Moab,  1885. 
The  Tell  Amarna  Tablets,  1892. 

Cornill,  Carl    Heinrich,  Einleitung  in  das   Alte   Tes- 
tament, 1 89 1. 

Cotta,    Bernard    von.   Die  Geologie  der   Gegenwart, 
1878. 

Croll,  James,  Stellar  Evolution,  1891. 

Dana,  James  D.,  Manual  of  Geology,  4th  ed.,  1895, 

393 


394  LIS  T  OF  A  UTHORS 

Davis,  John  D.,  Genesis  and  Semitic  Tradition,  1894. 
Dawson,  Sir  J.  W.,  The  Origin  of  the  World,  1877, 
Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands,  1889. 
The  Meeting  Place  of  Geology  and  History, 
1894. 
Delitzsch,  Franz,  New  Commentary  on  Genesis,  Eng- 
lish translation,  18S9. 
Delitzsch,  Friedrich,  Wo  lag  das  Paradies,  1881. 
Dillmann,  August,  Die  Genesis,  sechste  auflage,  1892. 

Exodus  und  Leviticus,  1880. 
Draper,  J.  W.,  The  Conflict  of  Religion  and  Science, 

iS75-   ^ 
Driver,  S.  R.,  Notes  on  the  Hebrew  Text  of   Samuel, 
1890. 

Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, 1 89 1. 
Sermons  on  the  Old  Testament,  1892. 
Commentary  on  Deuteronomy,  1895. 

Ebers,  Georg,  Aegypten  und  die  Biicher  Mose's,  1868. 
"Joseph,"  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  2nd 
ed.,  1893. 

Ebrard,  J.  H.  A.,  Christian  Apologetics,  English 
translation,  1886. 

Edersheim,  Alfred,  Prophecy  and  History  in  Relation 
to  the  Messiah,  1895. 

Edwards,  Amelia  B.,  Pharaohs,  Fellahs  and  Explor- 
ers, 1892. 

Ellicott,  C.  J.,  Christus  Comprobator,  1892. 

Erman,Adolph,  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt,  1894. 

Ewald,  Heinrich,  Geschichte  von  Israel, dritte  ausgabe, 
1864. 

Geikie,  Archibald,  Text  Book  of  Geology,  1893. 

Girard,  Raymond  de,  Le  Deluge,  1S92,  1893,  1895. 

Girdlestone,  R.  B.,  The  Foundations  of  the  Bible, 
1890. 

Godet,  F.,  Creation  and  Life,  1882. 

Qreen,  Wm.  Henry,  The  Higher  Criticism  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch, 1895. 

The  Unity  of  the  Book  of  Genesis,  1895. 


LIST  OF  AUTHORS  395 

Gray,  Asa,  Natural  Science  and  Religion,  1880. 
Guyot,  Arnold,  The  Earth  and  Man. 
Creation,  1884. 

Harper,  H.  A.,  The  Bible  and   Modern   Discoveries, 
1890. 

Hilprecht,    Herman  V.,    Explorations     in    Babylonia 
(Recent  Researches  in  Bible  Lands),  1896. 

Hitchcock,  Charles  H.,  The  Geology  of  New    Hamp- 
shire, 1874-187S. 

Holzinger,  H.,  Einleitung  in  den  Hexateuch,  1893. 

Hommel,    Fitz,   Discoveries   in   Arabia  (Recent   Re- 
searches in  Bible  Lands),  1896. 

The  Ancient  Hebrew  Tradition,  1897. 

Howorth,  Sir  Henry  H.,  The  Mammoth  and  the  Flood, 
1887. 

Huxley,  T.  H.,  Science  and  Hebrew  Tradition,  1894. 

James,  Sir  Henry,  Notes  on  the  Great  Pyramid,  1869. 
Joly,  N.,  Man  before  Metals,  1883. 

Kalisch,  M.  M.,  Commentary  on  Genesis,  1858. 

Commentary  on  Exodus,  1855. 
Kautsch,  E.,  and  Socin,  A.,  Die  Genesis,  1888. 
Kittel,  R.,  History  of  the   Hebrews,  English   transla- 
tion, 1895. 
Klostermann,  August,  Der  Pentateuch,  1893. 
Knotel,  H.  J.    R.,    Homeros  der   Blinde   von   Chios, 

1 894- 1 895. 
Kuenen,  A.,  The  Hexateuch,  English  translation,! 886. 
The  Religion  of  Israel,  English  translation, 
1 874- 1 883. 

Ladd,  George  T.,  The  Doctrine  of  Sacred   Scripture, 

'883- 

Layard,  Austin  H.,  Nineveh  and   its  Remains,  1849. 

Babylon  and  Nineveh,  1853. 
Leathes,  Stanley,  The  Law  in  the  Prophets,  1891. 
Le  Conte,  Joseph,  Elements  of  Geology,  revised  edi- 
tion,   1 891. 
Lef^vre,  Andr^,  Race  and  Language,  1894. 


396  LIST  OP  A  UTHORS 

Lenormant,    Fran9ois,    The    Beginnings   of   History 

(Brown's  translation),  1882. 
Lex  Mosaica,  by  various  writers,  1894. 
Lightfoot,  J.  B.,  Essays  on  "Supernatural  Religion,*' 

1889. 
Loftus,  W.  K.,  Travels  in  Chaldea  and  Susiana,  1857. 
Lyell,  Sir  Charles,  The  Antiquity  of  Man,  1878. 

Principles  of  Geology,  nth  ed.,  1878. 
Lubbock,  Sir  John,  Prehistoric  Times,  1872. 

Mariette,  Auguste,  Aper9u  de  L'Histoire  D'Egypte, 

1872. 
Maspero,  G.,    Places    Captured    by    Sheshenk,   Jour. 
Victoria  Institute,  1894. 

Egyptian  Archaeology,  1887. 
The  Struggle  of  the  Nations,  1897. 
McCoan,  J.  C,  Egypt,  1877. 

McCurdy,  J.    F.,  History,    Prophecy  and  the  Monu- 
ments, 1894,  1896. 

Nadaillac,  Marquis  de,  Prehistoric  Peoples,  1892. 
Naville,  Edouard,  The  Store  City  of  Pithom,  1885. 
Goshen,  1887. 

Oettli,  Samuel,  Das  Deuteronomium,  und  die   Biicher 
Joshua  und  Richter,  1893. 

Palmer,  E.  H.,  The  Desert  of  the  Exodus,  187 1. 
Petrie,  W.  M.,  Tell  el  Hesy,  1891. 

The   Story   of  a    "Tell"   (The   City    and    the 

Land),  1892. 
Egypt  and  Israel,  Contemporary  Review,  May, 

1896. 
History  of  Egypt,  1896. 
Pinches,    T.    G.,    "Eden,"  Smith's    History    of    the 

Bible,  2nd  ed. 
Poole,  R.  S.,  Ancient  Egypt,  Contemporary  Review, 

March,  1879. 
Prestwich,  Joseph,  The  Tradition  of  the  Flood,  Jour. 
Victoria  Institute,  1894. 

Quatrefages,  A,  de,  The  Human  Species,  1879. 


LIST  OF  AUTHORS  397 

Records  of  the  Past,  various  writers,  1875- 1 881. 

New  Series,  1888-1892. 
Rawlinson,  George,  The  History  of  Herodotus,  1858- 
1860. 

The  History  of  the  Nations,  1878. 
Reusch,  Fr.  H.,  Nature  and  the  Bible,  English  trans- 
lation, 1886. 
Robertson,  James,  The  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  1892. 
Robinson,  Edward,  Biblical  Researches,  1841-1852. 
Ryle,  Herbert  E.,  The  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament, 
1892. 

The  Early  Narratives  of  Genesis,  1892. 

Sanday,  W.,  Inspiration,  2nd  ed.,  1894. 
Sayce,  A.  H.,  The  Ancient  Empires  of  the  East,  1884. 
Schrader,  E.,  Die  Keilinschriften  und  das  Alte   Tes- 
tament, 2nd  ed.,  1884. 
Schuchardt,  C,  Schliemann's  Excavations,  1891. 
Smith,  George,  The  Chaldean  Genesis,Sayce's  edition, 
1880. 

Delitzsch's  Edition,   1876. 
Smend,  R.,  and  Socin,  A.,  Die  Inschrift  des  Konigs 

Mesa,  1886. 
Southall,  James  C,  The  Recent  Origin  of  Man,  1875. 
Strack,  H.  L.,  Genesis,  Exodus  und   Leviticus,  1894. 
Einleitung    in    das     Alte     Testament,     vierte 
auflage,  1895. 

Tait,  P.  G.,   Recent  Advances   in   Physical   Science, 

3rd  ed.,  1885. 
Thomas,  Louis,  Le  Jour  du  Seigneur,  1892. 
Thomson,  W.  M.,  The  Land  and   The   Book,  popular 

edition,  1880. 
Tomkins,  Henry  G.,  The   Times  of   Abraham,  1878. 
Tristram,  H.  B.,  Natural  History  of   the  Bible,  1868. 
The  Land  of  Israel,  2nd  ed.,  1S66. 
The  Natural  History  of  Palestine  (The  City 
and  the  Land),  1892. 
Trumbull,  H.  Clay,  Kadesh  Barnea,  1879. 

Watson,  F.,  The   Book  of   Genesis   a   True   History, 
1894. 


398  LIST  OF  AUTHORS 

Westphal,  Alexander,  Les  Sources  du  Pentateuch, 
1888-1892. 

Wilkinson,  J.  G.,  The  Ancient  Egyptians,  Birch's 
ed.,  1883. 

Winchell,  Alexander,  Preadamites,  1881. 

Winckler,  Hugo,  The  Tell  Amarna  Letters,  1896. 

Wright,  G.  Frederick,  The  Ice  Age  in  North  Amer- 
ica, 1889. 

Wright,  William,  The  Empire  of  the  Hittites,  1884. 
The  Hittites  (The  City  and  the  Land),  1892. 

Zenos,  Andrew  C,  The  Elements  of  the  Higher  Crit- 
icism, 1895. 

Zockler,  O.,  Die  Lehre  vom  Urstand  des  Menschen, 
1879. 


INDEX 


Aaron 327,  seq. 

Abiathar 339 

Abiri,  The 39 

Abraham 35.48,92,96, 

111,113,116,120,121,122,124 

Accad 118,145 

Achan 20,31,41,45 

Achsah 26 

Achor 8 

Ahab 6,7, 330 

Ahhotep 80 

Ahiah 339 

Ai 18,20,31,45 

Ain,Berwad,6o;  Hawwarah, 

60;  Musa,  59 

Amenophis  IV 16, 34, 48 

Amorites 36,40,42 

Amos 87,275-277,332-335 

Amraphel 118 

Anachronisms,  Alleged 

323-325.386-389 

Analysis,    Critical 

295-310,361,384-390 

Animal  Life 249,  seq. 

Antediluvian  Life,  Length  of 

178-186 

Antiquity    of    the     Human 

Race 380-382 

Arabia,   Its    Early  Civiliza- 
tion  9,35 

Aramaic  Language 36 

Arioch 117,118.119,124 

Ark,  The 157,  164 

Arts,   The  Early 192,  seq. 

Ashteroth  Karnaim 119 

Askelon  (Ascalon) 

16,  28,  35,  38,  42,  117 

Assyrian  Discoveries 5,6 

Augustine 252 


PAGE 

Authorship,  Evidence  of . . . 

269,272 

Azekah 20 

Baal-zephon 56 

Babel 126-128 

Babylonia,  Relations  to  Pal- 
estine   359 

Babylonian   Discoveries,  5; 
Garment, 20;  Conquests,  117 

'  'Badgers'  Skins" 77 

Balaam 48,  68,  324 

Bade 252 

Beirut 16,   35,41,43 

Berosus 127 

Beth-horon 9.  45 

Bethlehem 127 

Beth-shan 41 

Bezaleel 77 

Biographies  in   the    Hexa- 

teuch 112-114 

Birs  Nimrud 126, 128 

Bitumen 120,121,157 

Bochira 328 

"Book-town" 16 

Boulak  Museum 79 

Boundaries,  Tribal 361 

Bradford's  History  of  Plym- 
outh  85,  288  seq. 

Bricks,     Egyptian,     87,  88; 

Babylonian,  126 
Bronze 78, 82, 194, 195 

Cain,  Cainites ....  188, 192, 198 

Calah 146 

Camels  in  Egypt 93 

Canaan,  Language  of 

43,111,283 

Canaanites 26, 28, 32, 36, 38 


400 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Canal,  Sweet  water,  53; 
Suez,  54,  56. 

Candor  of  narratives 28,31 

Carchemish 9 

Caspian  Sea,  depression  of.  172 

Cattle 248 

Cereals 1 30 

Chaeremon 44 

Chaloof 55.  56 

Changes  of  level 168,  seq. 

Chaos 236.  238 

Charcoal 71 

Chariots  .  .21,  41,42,  54,  93,  95 

Chemosh 7 

Chedorlaomer  . .  .118,  119,  121 

Chittim 148 

City,  Cain's 191,  192 

Civilization,  in  Canaan,  42; 

around  Israel 10 

Chronicler,    The 

6,9,328,343,344 

"  Codes,"  a  loose  title. .347-348 
Confusion  of  tongues..  132, 133 

Conquest  of  Palestine 

14,19,20.21,29 

Contemporaneousness, 

Marks  of 18, 19,277 

Continents 239 

Contradictions  created. 320, 321 

Copper 42,194,195 

Creation  narrative,  its  aim 
and  method,  227-234;  not 
duplicated,  201,202;  con- 
firmed in  detail 255,256 

Creation,     Classic     story, 
257;  Chaldean,  25;  defects 

of 258,  259 

"  Creeping  thing  " 248, 249 

Crossing  the  Jordan 

45,46,48,361-365 

Cush 264 

Curse,  The 224,  seq. 

Dahariyeh 26 

Damieh 30 

Dan 18,120,121 

Daughters  of  men 187,188 

David 340,341,342 

Day,  Creation.234,252,253,379 


PAGE 

"Day,  To  this" 18 

Dead  Sea 29 

Death 223 

Debir 16,25.26 

Deluge,  Traditions   of,    151, 

seq.;    extent,    163,     seq.; 

possibility,    170;  method, 

171-178. 
Deluge   narrative,    definite, 

156;    consistent,  156,  157; 

contemporary,  158. 

Dibon 67 

Dispersion,   The 

....129-132.144,149,372,373 
Documents  in  Genesis.  ,2,200 
Dodanim 149 

Ebal 21,22,380 

Eden 270 

Edom 29 

Egypt,  Accurate  account  of 

85-88,360,370,371 

Egyptian  words 94.96 

Elam ii8,iig,  142,204 

Elim 59.61 

Elishah 148 

Ellasar 118 

Elohim 43 

Encampment  by  the  Sea,  61 ; 
at  Sinai,  66. 

Engedi 120 

English  Bible,  Revision  of.283 

Enoch 181 

Enos 180 

Erech 125, 145 

Esau 48,112,115 

Etham 54 

Evidence,  Traditional 382 

Exodus,  The,  50  seq.;  prepa- 
rations, 51,  seq.,  363;  sta- 
tions, 69,367. 
Ezra 78,287,288 

Famines 89 

Feasts,    observed,    332-335; 
abuse  condemned,   335,336, 

Feiran 52 

Fenced  cities 7.9.4° 

Fire 191 


INDEX 


401 


PAGE 

Firmament 238, 239 

Flying  creatures 245 

Food     supply,     miraculous 

66,67 

Fortresses 38 

Fruit, The  forbidden... 208, 209 

Galeed,   Jegur-sahadutha..iii 

Gardens 42 

Gerizim 21,280 

Gezer 26,35 

Gibeon,  Gibeonites 

..20,23,31,45,46,319,328,331 

Gideon 340.341 

Gilgal 14,18,20,25,31 

Gold 41,42,78.79,80 

Golden  Age 214 

Gomer 146 

Goshen 53, 100 

Gomorrah 14 

Great  Eastern,  The 157 

Great  Deep,  The 168 

Ham 134,135,144,149 

Haran 121,124,125 

Hazezon  Tamar 121 

Hazor 16,25,35,38,117 

Hebrew  language 11 1 

Hebrews 105,106 

Hebron 25,96,123 

Heshbon 67 

Hesiod 215 

Hezekiah 6,8,40,280,330 

Hexateuch,  Two  theories 
of,  1-3;  its  truth  assailed, 
312;  sustained,  357-358. 

"Hill  of  Aaron" 65 

Hissarlik 195, 196 

Hittites 26,27,28, 

36. 37. 38,39. 41.54.96-99. 359 

Homer 3,28,196,249 

Hophni 339 

Hor 73 

Horeb 65,286 

Hormah 29 

Horses 41,42,93 

Hosea 275-276,331-335 

Huleh 21 

Hyksos 89,105 


PAGE 

Idioms,  Canaanite 43 

Imposition,  Priestly,  im- 
practicable   355-357 

Inscriptions,  Arabian,  9; 
Assyrian,  98;  Moabite,  7. 
283;  at  Magarah,  40;  at 
Siloam,  8;  of  Shishak,  8; 
of  Menephtah,  106. 

Iron 81,82,195,197 

Isaac 48,114 

Ishmael 114 

Israel,  Kings  of,  mentioned 
in  Assyria 6 


Jabal 192 

Jacob 48,111,112,114,115 

Japheth...  134,135,141,146,149 

Jashar,  Book  of 284 

Javan 147,148 

Jericho 19, 

23,31,40,41,42,45,46,68,324 

Jeroboam 330.331.34°.  343 

Jerusalem 

9,16.25,35,39,117,120 

Jezreel 41 

Jewelry 78-80, 369 

Joppa 16,35 

Jordan 

. .  18,19,22,30,31,32,45,46,48 

Joshua,  Character  of 33 

Joseph 

43.44.45.90,110,111,115 

Josephus 9,44.45 

Josiah , 9 

Jubilee  year 334 

Judah,  Kings  of,  mentioned 

in  Assyria.    6 

Junius 202 

Kadesh 29, 

50,65,66,67,120,121,186.220 

Kedesh 25 

Kimmerii 146, 372 

Kiriathaim 119 

Kirjath-jearim 25 

Kirjath-sepher n6 

Knotel  on  Homer 3,4 

Koyunjik 6 


402 


INDEX 


PAGB 

Lachish,  16,117;  siege  of. 6; 

excavations  at,  40. 
Lamech,    181;    his   family, 

192;  his  song,  197,198. 

Language,  Variant 300 

Larsa 125 

Law,  Non-observance  of 

317.318 

Law,  The,  given.  „ 365 

Lebanon 27 

Legislation,  successive  and 

interrupted,     64,349-352, 

368;  order  of,  354. 

Leshem 18,27 

Level,  Changes  of .  ..168,   seq. 
Levites  and  priests. .  .342-345 

Life,  Length  of 183,  seq. 

Light 237 

Life  in  Egypt 85-88 

Longevity 374 

Lot 113 

Machpelah 126 

Madai 147 

Magarah,  Wady 40 

Magog 147 

Makkedah 16,20,35,41,117 

Man  in  paradise,  190;  two- 
fold nature,  199;  condition 
and  traits,  208;  capacity 
and  dominion,  251,252; 
his  prohibition,  209. 

Manetho 44 

Manna 71 

Manoah 300. 34^ 

Marah 60 

Marriage,  Ideal 210,212 

Megiddo 32 

Memorials 280,  seq. 

Menephtah. . .  106,107,108,393 

Merom 21,37,38,40,41 

Mesha 7 

Methuselah 183 

Micah 339, 340. 343 

Migdol 54.55.56 

Mines 194 

Misrephoth 21,27 

Mizpeh,   Mispah 21,27,328 

Moab,  Moabites 

..7, 29,48,67,68,69,81,8a, 283 


Mohar 93 

Moses,  11,16,49,50,270,  271, 
273  seq. ;  280,281,288,355. 

Mosul 207 

Music,  Instruments  of 193 

Mulberries 42 

Nabonidus 7 

Naharain 82 

Names,  Palestinian 

24,25,27,34 

Nebo 63 

Nimrud 82, 126 

Nineveh ...  196 

Noah 113,133,134,181 

Nob 331 

Numbers,  uncertain 179 

Nuffar 195 

Observances,    commemora- 
tive   104 

Olives 42, 185 

Ophrah 328 

Outline  descriptions.   245,250 

Orontes,  The 41-54 

Ovid 190,215 

Oxen 42 

Oxford  Essays 232 

Paradise,    rivers,    205  seq. ; 

locality,  375,378. 

Palm  trees 61 

Papyrus 3 

Pentaur,  Poem  of,  the,. 4 1,54 

Pharaoh-necho 9 

Phenicia 39-41 

Pi-hahiroth 55.5*5 

Pisgah 68 

Pithom 53,54,88,100 

Plagues,    The,    91,92;  time 

of,  363- 

Plymouth  colony 10,11,85 

Pottery,  Early  use  of 191 

Precious  stones 78-80 

Priests,      priesthood,       227 

seq.,  338-340- 

Quails 72 

Rahab 46,  R- 


INDEX 


403 


PAGE 

Rahah,  Wady  er 59,60,64 

Ramah .2 

Rameses 53 

RamesesII.,  38,42,54,80,98, 

100 

Records,    Assyrian,  6;  pre- 

Mosaic,  2. 

Rehoboam 9,40 

Rephidim 63 

Reptiles 246 

Red  Sea,  Crossing  of 

48,53.5407.58,59 

Revision  of  English   Bible, 

285;  of  Hebrew  Bible,  286. 

"Rib" 210 

Rithmah 71 

Sabbath 266 

Sacrifices 330-332, 341-342 

Samaritan  Pentateuch.  179, 273 

Samuel 328,331,339,340 

Sarabit  el  Khadim 40, 195 

Sargon    I.,  97;  Sargon   II,, 

98,142 

Satan 218 

Saul 340 

"  Seed,"  The 225 

Seir 65 

Sennacherib 6 

Septuagint,  The 16,17 

Serapeum 55-56 

Serbonian  Bog 55 

Serpent,    73;   traditions   of, 

220,  seq. 

Seti  1 53 

Sethites 187,188 

Sex 2og 

Shabbatu 263, 282 

Shalmanezer 6,98 

Sharahen 18 

Shechera 

....17,21,43,46,318,329,331 

Shera 134-135- 144- 149 

Shiloh 319,328,331 

Shinar. . .  .118, 126, 129, 144, 145 

Ships 42 

Shishak 8,9, 360 

Shittim  wood 70 

Sidon. .  16,21,27,38,42,117,142 


PAGE 

Silence,  Argument  from 

^., 315.316 

Siloara  mscription 7,8 

Sin,  Wilderness  of 62 

Sin  and  penalty 216 

Sinai 64 

Slave 43,354 

Solomon 340, 342 

Sons  of  God 186-188 

Stretched      out       creatures 

(monsters) 246 

South  Country 66 

Species  destroyed, ..  .249,250 

Stations 69 

Style,  popular  and  phenome- 
nal, 214;  does  not  fix  date, 
322,383. 

Succoth 53, 100 

Suez  Canal 54-  55-  57 

Sufsafeh 64 

Sun  and  moon 234, 242, 243 

Tabernacle,  The,  its  con- 
struction   77, 78 

Table  of  Nations 137  seq. 

Targum 16 

Tarshish 146, 148 

Tatian's  Diatesseron.  .390,391 
Tell  Amarna  tablets.  16,34, 
36,39,99,101,111,117,119, 

143,183 

Tell  el  Hesy 33,35:4© 

Tell  el  Maskutah 53 

Temptation,  The 217-223 

Tents 192 

Thebes 8 

ThothmesIII 

..18,34,38,82,98,119,123.196 

Tidal iig 

Tiglath-pileser .**   .  .6 

Timsah,  Lake 55^5^ 

Tiras 147 

Torah,  The 11 

Tree,  Sacred 37,38 

Tribute  of  Hezekiah,  6;  of 
Moabite  king,  7. 

Trumpets 41 

Tumilat,  Wady 53-  loi 

Two  Brothers,  Tale  of go 


404 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Tyre..  16,27,28,35,38,42,43, 
117,135,142 

Ur 123,125 

Usertesen  1 98 

Vegetable  life 24 

Vineyards 42 

Wady,  Ed  Deir,  64;  Er 
Rahah,  64;  Feiran,  63; 
Gharandel,  61;  Hamr, 
63;  Hibran,  64;  Leja,  64; 
Magarah,  193,194;  Nukhf, 
64;  Saal,  71;  Sebayeh,  64; 


PAGE 

Shellal,    63;  Tayibeh,  61; 

Tumilat,  53,100. 

Wagons 63 

Water,  courses  at  Jerusalem, 

8;  supply  in  the  desert,  67. 

Weaving 193 

Week,  The 264  seq. 

Wells  of  Moses 59,60 

Wilderness  of  Sin 62 

Wine 75.133.134 

Woman 209-211 

Writing 15,16,17,25,41,78 

Zephath 29,66 

Zoar 121 


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